Two pro-marriage equality referendums are likely to be held alongside the local elections next month, after the Central Election Commission yesterday announced that they have passed the second-phase legal threshold.

The commission on Tuesday is to decide whether the proposals will be on the ballot for the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 24.

The proposals, initiated by Social Democratic Party member Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) and advocate Wang Ting-yu (王鼎棫) respectively, have gathered enough signatures to clear the 281,745 threshold for the second phase of the process, the commission said.

The proposals directly oppose three referendums organized by conservative groups and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers that have already cleared the commission’s review process.

Miao’s referendum proposal to legalize same-sex marriage under the marriage chapter of the Civil Code garnered 432,329 valid and 42,448 invalid signatures, 2,498 of which were forgeries and 44 belonged to dead people, it said.

Wang’s proposal supporting lessons on emotional and sex education and homosexuality through the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法) garnered 438,066 valid and 46,183 invalid signatures, including 2,580 suspected forgeries and 42 belonging to the deceased, the commission said.

The commission is likely to clear the proposals for the ballot box while pressing forgery charges against their organizers, as it has done for three KMT-initiated referendums. Read more via Taipei Times