The Taiwanese Parliament [official website] has begun work on passing three bills in support of same-sex marriage. Mei-nu Yu [official profile], a ruling Democratic Progressive Party MP, is sponsoring the same-sex marriage bill now in line for parliamentary debate [ABC report]. Same-sex marriage a was also supported by President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female head of state, just this past October.

The rights of same-sex couples are still being debated throughout the globe. Earlier this week the Australian Senate rejected a proposed plebiscite on same-sex marriage [JURIST report]. In September tens of thousands of people marched [JURIST report] in Mexico in protest of same-sex marriage, a controversial topic in the country exacerbated by a proposal from embattled President Enrique Peña Nieto to recognize same-sex marriage. The Aruban legislature voted [JURIST report] in September to give official recognition to same-sex couples, giving them the right to register their unions and receive the benefits granted to other married people. The New York Court of Appeals ruled [JURIST report] in August that the definition of “parent” under a section of the state’s Domestic Relations Law should be expanded, in a decision that will serve to better accommodate same-sex couples. Also in August, the Belize Supreme Court struck down [JURIST report] a law banning sodomy, declaring it unconstitutional. Section 53 of the Belize Criminal Code banned “carnal intercourse against the order of nature.”