Originally published 2019-06-24.
Taiwan made history on May 17, 2019 by becoming the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. Here are 24 heartwarming pictures of supporters celebrating outside the parliament moments after the result of the vote was announced.
Carl Court / Getty Images
Sam Yeh / AFP / Getty Images
Carl Court / Getty Images
Chiang Ying-ying / AP
Carl Court / Getty Images
Sam Yeh / AFP / Getty Images
Carl Court / Getty Images
Chiang Ying-ying / AP
Kyodo
Chiang Ying-ying / AP
Putting the celebration on the timeline
These photographs concern the legislative vote on May 17, 2019, rather than the first day couples registered marriages, which followed on May 24. That distinction helps explain why supporters were gathered outside parliament. Look at the collection as a record of public anticipation and relief: each credited photographer captured a small part of a much larger day, and no single expression stands for everybody's experience.
How Taiwan got there, and what came next
The vote followed a ruling by Taiwan’s Constitutional Court, Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 of 24 May 2017, which gave the legislature two years to allow same-sex couples to marry. In referendums on 24 November 2018 voters approved three initiatives backed by opponents of same-sex marriage and rejected two put forward by LGBT campaigners. In May 2019 lawmakers passed a law, the Act for Implementation of J.Y. Interpretation No. 748; its key article on marriage registration was approved by 66 votes to 27. President Tsai Ing-wen signed it on 22 May 2019, and when it took effect on 24 May, 526 couples married on the first day. Since then the rights have widened: transnational same-sex marriages were allowed from 19 January 2023, and in May 2023 the Legislative Yuan approved joint adoption by same-sex couples.
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