Taiwan legalises same-sex marriage

Taiwan’s parliament yesterday legalised same-sex marriage in a landmark first for Asia as the government survived a last-minute attempt by conservatives to pass watered-down legislation. Lawmakers comfortably passed a bill allowing same-sex couples to form “exclusive permanent unions” and another clause that would let them apply for a “marriage registration” with government agencies. The vote -- which took place on the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia -- is a major victory for the island’s LGBT community and it places the island at the vanguard of Asia’s burgeoning gay rights movement.