The First Country in Asia to Say Yes to Marriage Equality...?

Some impressive things are happening on the equality front in one particular Asian nation, and it's catching everyone a little by surprise.

Is this happening in one of the region's bastions of democracy? -- Taiwan, Thailand, or the Philippines?  Not quite.  Surprisingly, the conversation of amending the marriage law to include gay couples is happening in a communist country:  Vietnam.

The Vietnamese government is now considering whether to allow same-sex couples to marry (or at least legally register) so they can receive the rights they're currently being denied.  Thus, Vietnam could very well be the first country in Asia to allow same-sex marriage, according to news agency AP.

Interesting News Bites from Asia

TAIWAN:  TAPCPR, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, has announced that it will deliver a same-sex partnership bill to the Legislative Yuan (the Taiwanese legislature) in July of 2012.  TAPCPR has been advocating for a change in the current civil law since 2009.  Its bill will be three-pronged, covering a partnership system, legalization of same-sex marriage, and modernization of the current family code.

A same-sex marriage bill has been proposed before in Taiwan, but it met a major hurdle.  This because, according to Taiwanese law, family members of one spouse are automatically bound by law to become relatives of the other spouse's family.  The subsequent conflict over the implementation of family inheritance laws has effectively stalled that bill since 2003.