Gays and lesbians around the world fight for same-sex marriage. (Photo : Getty Images)
Taipei police reported that artist and Professor Jacques Picoux fell from the top of a 10 story building. Picoux was a lecturer of French language and literature at the National Taiwan University.
Investigations conducted by the police revealed that the French professor was not attacked in his apartment unit on the 10th floor. There was also no evidence of foul play.
Picoux had lived in Taipei since 1979 and held a master's degree from Université Paris Diderot or Paris Diderot University. He came to the country with Francoise Zylberberg for a two-year exchange program between the Paris university and NTU.
He retired in 2004 but continued to paint. He had a long-time partner, Tseng Ching-chao, whom he lived with 35 years.
Tseng died last October from cancer. It was known that Picoux had never recovered from depression and felt powerless over his legal status when his partner was battling cancer.
The tragic story of the French teacher triggered the attention of advocates of same-sex marriage in Taiwan.
A gay rights group, the Taiwan LGBT hotline association, said: "How many more human lives do we have to lose as a result of the government's gross negligence?"
The Democratic Progressive Party (D.P.P.) filed a draft bill to amend the family law. The move was seen as a "pivotal moment" by gay rights activists.
Pride Watch activist Cindy Su said, "We actually can see that there are about 66 legislators who will probably vote yes on marriage equality. That's a majority of 58.4 percent, the first time in Taiwanese history that we have more than half."
D.P.P.'s Yu Mei-nu was the one who initiated the bill and admitted that Picoux's death was an eye-opener for her.
"This story touched people," she said. "The LGBT group were very angry. It has put a lot of pressure on our party and on other parties."
