Activists protested at Tainan City Council on Thursday to demand that the city allow gay residents to register partners in the city’s household records.

The cities of Kaohsiung, Taipei and Taichung have all opened household registration records to same-sex partners this year.

Activists claimed that Tainan’s failure to do so was a negligence of human rights.

The Tainan City Bureau of Civil Affairs Director Chen Tsung-yen responded by saying that different opinions in society should be respected and that the city government had no plans to allow same-sex partnership registration for the time being.

The designation of partners in the household records stops short of the same rights as a heterosexual marriage but allows for some recognition in housing and healthcare.