Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party will not prioritise its same-sex marriage bill in the upcoming session of the legislative yuan, according to the party spokesperson.

Marriage equality activists and the LGBT have denounced party chair and president Tsai Ing-Wen for failing to keep to live up to declarations of support made during her presidential campaign in 2015.

One online campaign demanded refunds on marriage equality metro cards released by Tsai during her election bid.

The news came as Tsai became embroiled in controversy over comments made in a focus group on same-sex marriage on Feb. 18.

Gay rights activist Vincent Huang said that Tsai told him “you may not be able to see same-sex marriage in your lifetime,” which the Presidential Office quickly denied.

Tsai’s office released a transcript of what was supposed to be a closed-door meeting. “We cannot get to [marriage equality] by taking just one step today. It's a long road and it's going to get harder and harder along the way,” the transcript quoted Tsai as saying.

Huang refused to back down while another activist who attended the meeting, Tsai Shang-Wen, described Huang’s interpretation as “understandable.”