The Ministry of Justice has submitted a draft amended Law on Marriage and Family to the government in which it proposes removing regulations to ban same-sex marriages.

The proposed removal of regulations on banning same-sex marriages is expected to pave the way for full recognition

The ministry suggested applying the same marriage ages for both males and females starting at 18, instead of 18 for females and 20 for males as currently regulated.

The law compiling committee added a regulation on cohabitation between same-sex people.

Minister of Justice Ha Hung Cuong said many members of the public still believed that Vietnam should not recognise same-sex marriage right now. However the committee emphasised the necessity to prevent discrimination and draft a legal framework to help deal with problems related to assets and children in cases of cohabitation.

They proposed working on a suitable roadmap for the legalisation of such issue, along with paying proper attention before coming to a final decision.

According to the ministry, many countries including the Netherlands, Canada and France have suitable roadmaps for the issue.

Even though China and Canada have yet to recognise same-sex marriage, they’ve legalised such relationships in 1997 and 2009, respectively.

The ministry supports the proposal to remove Clause 5 Article 10 in the 2000 Law on Marriage and Family on banning same-sex marriages.