orientation and a refusal to provide equal protection under the law. Taiwan In 2003, the government of the Republic of China (Taiwan), led by the Presidential office, proposed legislation granting marriages to same-sex couples under the Human Rights Basic Law, but it did not proceed. On 22 December 2014, a proposed amendment to the Civil Code to legalize same-sex marriage went under review by the Judiciary Committee. If the amendment had passed the committee stage it would have been voted on at the plenary session of the Legislative Yuan in 2015. The amendment, called the marriage equality amendment, would have inserted neutral terms into the Civil Code replacing ones that imply heterosexual marriage, effectively legalizing same-sex marriage. It would also have allowed same-sex couples to adopt children. Yu Mei-nu of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the convener of the legislative session, expressed support for the amendment, as did more than 20 other DPP lawmakers as well as two from the Taiwan Solidarity Union and one each from the Kuomintang and the People First Party. The Constitutional Court's J. Y. Interpretation No. 748 ruled on 24 May 2017 that laws limiting marriage to between a man and a woman were unconstitutional. The panel of judges gave the Legislative Yuan two years to amend or enact new laws. The court further stipulated that should the Legislative Yuan fail to amend or enact laws legalizing same-sex marriage within two years, same-sex couples would be able to marry through existing marriage registration processes at any household registration office. On 17 May 2019, the Legislative Yuan passed the Act for Implementation of J. Y. Interpretation No. 748. The name of the law, referring to the Constitutional Court ruling two years earlier, was an attempt at compromise, employing neutral-sounding terminology. It was subsequently signed by the President on 22 May 2019. The law came into effect on 24 May 2019, making Taiwan the first country in Asia to recognize same-sex marriage. Europe Same-sex civil marriages are legally recognized nationwide in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom. In a number of other European countries, same-sex civil unions give similar or identical rights to marriage. A poll conducted by EOS Gallup Europe in 2003 found that 57% of the population in the then 15-member European Union supported same-sex marriage. Support among the member