After losing her 26-year-old daughter, entertainer Chu Hui-chen (朱慧珍) held a press conference on May 24, where — filled with love and sorrow — she announced her daughter, who had committed suicide, was a lesbian. On behalf of millions of Taiwanese homosexuals, I want to tell Chu: “We love you!”
Studies have shown that the suicide rate among both adolescent and adult homosexuals is high compared with equivalent heterosexual groups. However, if we interpret this as evidence that homosexuals have a higher tendency to commit suicide, we would be ignoring the oppression of and discrimination against homosexuals that is a result of modern social structures.
According to research undertaken by sexologist Alfred Kinsey in the mid-20th century, about 10 percent of men and 4 percent of women are homosexual. In addition, the US National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health conducted in the late 20th century showed that 7.3 percent of male adolescents and 5 percent of female adolescents were attracted to members of their own sex. An anonymous survey conducted by Taipei Municipal Jianguo High School in 2000 showed that of 3,492 valid responses, 4.1 percent identified themselves as homosexual, 7.2 percent as bisexual and 1.2 percent said they were uncertain about their sexuality.
If we assume the homosexual population accounts for 10 percent of the total, then about 2.3 million of Taiwan’s 23 million people may be gay. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has boasted that Taiwan is one of Asia’s most advanced countries in terms of gender equity. However, during his time in power, no concrete measures to promote the equal rights of homosexuals have been implemented and we lack a same-sex partnership or marriage law and an anti-discrimination law.
The term “homosexuals” refers not only to gays, but also to a diversity of lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals. Due to long-term stigmatization and ignorance, many homosexuals hide their sexuality because they worry about letting down their parents and facing discrimination.
In our daily lives, we are taught about (heterosexual) love by the media, schools, literature and our families.
Take television for example. Almost all prime-time programming and soap operas focus on the love between men and women. Homosexuals mainly appear in sensational social news or in stereotypical roles.
Traditional pressure often continue even after a homosexual dies. When a transsexual person passes away, their parents often insist their child be dressed and addressed according to their birth sex. For example, dressing a transsexual woman in a man’s suit at her funeral and addressing her as “mister,” despite the fact she made every effort during her lifetime to be treated as a woman.
Despite her grief, Chu chose to make public her daughter’s sexual orientation. She also blamed herself, saying that since she had not learned the “lesson of love” well, she failed to teach her daughter. However, it was not Chu’s fault: Society as a whole, the media and our schools have never provided adequate support and resources for homosexuals and their families. Even the Ministry of Education — which originally planned to promote homosexual equity education in primary schools according to the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法) last year — had to back down following protests from conservative groups.
The best way to reduce this kind of suicide is for the educational authorities, in addition to pushing for gender equality education, to include a homosexual perspective on human rights, life and family education. No parent of a homosexual child should ever have to weep again.
Cheng Chi-wei is director of social and volunteer work at the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association.
Translated by Eddy Chang
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
To counter the CCP’s escalating threats, Taiwan must build a national consensus and demonstrate the capability and the will to fight. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) often leans on a seductive mantra to soften its threats, such as “Chinese do not kill Chinese.” The slogan is designed to frame territorial conquest (annexation) as a domestic family matter. A look at the historical ledger reveals a different truth. For the CCP, being labeled “family” has never been a guarantee of safety; it has been the primary prerequisite for state-sanctioned slaughter. From the forced starvation of 150,000 civilians at the Siege of Changchun
The two major opposition parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), jointly announced on Tuesday last week that former TPP lawmaker Chang Chi-kai (張啟楷) would be their joint candidate for Chiayi mayor, following polling conducted earlier this month. It is the first case of blue-white (KMT-TPP) cooperation in selecting a joint candidate under an agreement signed by their chairpersons last month. KMT and TPP supporters have blamed their 2024 presidential election loss on failing to decide on a joint candidate, which ended in a dramatic breakdown with participants pointing fingers, calling polls unfair, sobbing and walking
RSS