The Ministry of the Interior announced yesterday (August 31st) that the word “adopted” is no longer required in the parental section on the national identity cards of adopted children of same-sex couples.

Minister Lin You-chang stated that this new change would make the practice of adoption by same-sex parents “equivalent” to that of heterosexual parents. Following the Ministry’s departmental meeting yesterday, the change was swiftly passed and implemented through an amendment to a legal regulation relating to the content of national identity cards.

Lin also mentioned that this change is primarily in line with Taiwan’s new bill passed last year, granting joint adoption rights to same-sex couples.

Chang Chia-ling, the Chief of Household Administration in the Department of Household Registration at the Ministry of the Interior, explained to PTS News, “After this year’s amendment, the word ‘adoptive’ will be removed from the ‘father’ and ‘mother’ sections. Both sections will now read ‘father-father’ or ‘mother-mother,’ becoming consistent with opposite-sex marriages.”

Since the passage of the Same-Sex Marriage Act in 2019, Taiwan’s civil groups and government have continuously promoted marriage equality. After previously announcing cross-border same-sex marriages and enabling same-sex spouses to adopt children earlier this year, this new change will ensure that the identity of same-sex parents’ adopted children is protected in the same way as those adopted by heterosexual parents.

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TNL Editor: Kim Chan (@thenewslensintl)

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