With more and more countries legalizing same-sex marriage, some scholars in Taiwan are saying that our government should move toward that direction as well. However, the Ministry of the Interior said that the issue requires more contemplation. It was not long ago that the State of New York legalized same sex marriage, making itself the sixth U.S. state to make this decision. Even though more and more countries and places are legalizing same sex marriage, it is still not legalized in Taiwan and same sex couples do not enjoy the protection and legal rights from the common-law marriage. As the government is releasing the national report on human rights on December 10th, legalizing same sex marriage or not has sparked fervent discussion within the government's human rights committee. Some scholars believe that even though it may be difficult to legalize same sex marriage at this point, the government should move towards the direction, to protection gay couples' rights to form a family. " Committee members have different opinions on the topic whether or not gay couples are allowed to form a family or get married." Still, the authorities remain conservative on the topic. The Ministry of the Interior said that legalizing gay marriage requires more discussion. "We will certainly conduct thorough evaluation on this topic before approving it. However, it is still too early to say how the government will handle the issue." Gay groups, on the other hand, question politicians for failing to fulfill their promises on legalizing same sex marriages during the elections. They said the legislature never really pay much attention to their rights. "The government should review its policy towards same-sex relationships, to create an environment that supports gay people." Even though the scholars haven't reached a consensus on same sex marriage, they have made certain adjustment over the minimum legal age of marriage. The committee is to raise female's legal age of marriage from 16 to 18 years old. The legal engagement age for females will be raised from 15 to 17 years old. Since the committee is expected to release the nation's human rights report at the end of this year, it will collect data from the Ministry of the Interior and discuss with the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Yuan to make a final conclusion on the issue.