The marriage of two Vietnamese men living in Canada a year ago stirred public opinion
The law is said to include contents unsuitable for current conditions, including a ban on same sex marriage.
In reality, the country has seen increasing numbers of same sex marriages which are held publicly and even on a large scale. According to the Ministry of Justice, the Vietnamese lesbian and gay community has increased and, based on individual freedom, same sex marriage need to be recognised but must match Vietnamese customs and habits.
Legal issues related to same sex marriages need to be clarified in particular in relation to children and assets. If their marriage is not recognised, a legal mechanism should be issued for deal with any divorce issues.
The ministry also noted that, for many years a number of disputes over assets have been brought to trial; however, no specific legal foundations have been issued to settle the problem.
The Ministry of Justice is also collecting public opinions on reducing the marriage age for both men and women from 20 and 18 respectively as stipulated at the Law on Marriage and Family issued in 2000.
Many experts said, the marriage aged should be based on local’ customs and maturity of the people wanting to get married. They have proposed lowering the marriage age for girls to 16.
