They are now living their family dream with daughter Joujou, 4, in the southern city of Kaohsiung, in an apartment decorated with rainbow flags and family photos. However, while their family life is happy, their hard-fought victory in court is bittersweet. “We can’t be too happy about our victory because many of our friends are still facing a lot of difficulties,” said Chen, 35. a family,” added Wang, 38. “We were treated like second-class citizens.” While Taiwan in 2019 became the first jurisdiction in the region to legalize same-sex marriage, the legal change stopped short of granting full adoption rights to same-sex couples. This has created a strange loophole in which heterosexual couples — and single people of all sexual orientations — are allowed to adopt children to whom they are not biologically related, but same-sex couples are not. To this day, Wang and Chen remain the only same-sex married couple on the island to have done so.

A stain on a progressive reputation

Activists say this gap shows that despite the strides Taiwan has made in recognizing LGBTQ rights, the island has a long way to go before same-sex couples achieve true equality.
The adoption gap isn’t the only problem left from 2019. The legal change also failed to fully recognize interstate same-sex marriage. Foreign spouses are only recognized if same-sex marriage is also legal in their home jurisdiction. Freddie Lim, an independent lawmaker in Taiwan who champions LGBTQ rights, said the gap arose because at the time the law was changed, the society was still “facing a lot of opposition from anti-LGBTQ groups,” so the government focused “only on the legalization of marriage, but not the rights related to the adoption of children’. However, Lim believes attitudes have changed enough since then for the law to change again. In May, Lim and a bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed updating the law with a bill he hopes can be passed by the end of the year. “If a society treats people differently based on their sexual orientation, it should have a strong reason outside of the public interest. But there is none, so it is clearly a form of discrimination,” Lim said.

From despair to wonder

Any change can’t come too soon for Wang and Chen, who hope their friends will be spared the ordeal they faced. Wang and Chen, both teachers from southern Taiwan, had been in a relationship for more than a decade when they began the adoption process in 2016. Wang applied in his own name, and a court confirmed his eligibility in 2019 — after from strict checks on both men by social workers. Things seemed all set for a happy married life. “When same-sex marriage was legalized (a year later), we had hopes of raising a child together,” Chen recalled. However, Chen was told he would not be able to register as the girl’s legal parent — even if the couple married. It was heartbreaking for Chen, who found himself not performing the kind of parental duties most families take for granted — like signing his daughter’s school or bank documents. “Every time we had to apply for our daughter, I was afraid that they would ask me about my relationship with her. I was always her father, but I was not recognized as a parent,” Chen said.
In April last year, Wang and Chen — along with two other couples — filed petitions with a family court in Kaohsiung City. They waited for the case to be dismissed — believing they could then appeal to Taiwan’s Supreme Court and eventually force a change in the law. However, to their surprise, in January the family court ruled in their favor on the grounds that it was in Joujou’s best interests to have both legal parents. The other two cases were dismissed. “I was amazed, it was a miracle,” Chen said. “Until then I was living with my daughter, but I had no relationship with her under the law.”
Wang said the decision was important for two reasons: It made it easier for the couple to care for their daughter — and it also gave hope to other couples like them. “I feel relieved now,” Wang said. “We can both act as legal parents and share the burden. And if Joujou gets sick and needs to see a doctor, we’re both legally entitled to take time off and take care of her.”

Uphill battle

The problem is that the family court ruling only extends to Wang and Chen. Other same-sex couples in Taiwan still face an uphill battle. Jordan, an American, struggles to register as the mother of her Taiwanese husband’s adopted child. He met his wife, Ray, six years ago and Ray began the adoption process in 2018 – before the couple married. The couple asked CNN to withhold their full names to protect the 7-year-old girl. “At first, it was just my wife who adopted because I wasn’t really too sure if I wanted to be a parent at the time,” Jordan said. “But within about a month of my daughter coming home, she and I developed a very close relationship.”
Last April, Jordan filed her petition in family court at the same time as Wang and Chen. However, her case was dismissed.
“We want equal protection under the law,” he said. “If something were to happen to my wife — she has an autoimmune disease, with Covid coming — then my daughter would not only lose her mom, she would lose me because she would be taken from me, just like me.” I’m allowed to adopt her,” he said. “We’re a family, but it still feels like we’re not a complete family. If it’s a right given to straight people, it’s important to us that they treat us exactly the same,” she added. Jordan said that while Taiwan’s progressive reputation had been boosted by the legalization of same-sex marriage, more effort was needed to ensure equality for LGBTQ couples. “A lot of people — even here in Taiwan — don’t realize that we still don’t have full equality,” he said. “It really stopped us from being able to celebrate as much as we wanted to.” Still, activists say there are reasons for optimism. Joyce Teng, deputy executive director of the Taiwan Equality Campaign, said that since same-sex marriage was legalized three years ago, there has been a “greater level of acceptance and support” in society. In its latest annual survey released last month, the campaign found that 67 percent of Taiwanese supported allowing LGBTQ couples to adopt children, an 8 percent increase from a year ago.
Wang said he hopes the law can be amended as soon as possible so that other couples can enjoy the same rights as he and Chen. “There are many families who are afraid to file reports in court because they don’t want to attract the attention of society or the media,” Wang said. “If the law remains unchanged, many could be afraid to stand up for their rights.” There’s also Taiwan’s reputation to think about — not only as an enlightened LGBTQ rights jurisdiction, but also its image as a free and democratic beacon in the Asia-Pacific region. “When the international community looks at Taiwan, we are often seen as the first line of defense against authoritarianism,” said Legislator Lim. “But if we want to truly portray ourselves as free, equal and democratic … then we need to recognize and address the injustices in our society — and LGBTQ rights are an important part of that.”