The US had Harvey Milk and France has Bertrand Delanoe. And Taiwan? It has three openly gay candidates running in the upcoming special municipality elections.
These would-be legislators — a scruffy gay man who campaigns for eco-friendly agriculture, a slender dominatrix and a veteran feminist activist — demonstrate just how diverse the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community is.
Wang Chung-ming
Photo: Andrew C.C. Huang
Wang Chung-ming (王鐘銘), a green activist who also campaigns for the rights of deaf homosexuals, is a candidate for the Green Party (綠黨) in the Shihmen (石門), Sanjhih (三芝), Bali (八里) and Tamsui (淡水) districts.
Wang, 32, has worked as a volunteer for the Persons With HIV/AIDS Rights Advocacy Association (愛滋感染者權益促進會) and as a publishing house editor in the past.
He joined the Green Party in 2006, became a member of its Central Executive Committee and helped orchestrate the party’s election campaign.
Photo: Andrew C.C. Huang
“I felt this would be a good year for environmental issues and for minorities,” Wang told the Taipei Times. “Earlier this year, I tried to help the party find a gay candidate, but failed. So I decided to take the plunge.”
A native of Tamsui, Wang has chosen to eschew gay-friendly policies and concentrate on green agriculture and revitalizing his hometown.
“Gay-friendly policies have been covered by the Green Party already,” Wang said.
Wang’s platform includes development policies that, he says, would foster a “green” economy and create employment opportunities for Tamsui residents.
“This town has been the ‘bedroom’ from which we commute to Taipei everyday for employment,” he said. “This is not a fully functioning city.”
He also aims to turn Tamsui into a center of culture.
“Tamsui has been a very touristy town in terms of its cultural development,” he said. “I want to build a cultural zone in which long-term cultural development will be emphasized instead of just turning a quick buck.”
Song Jia-lUn
Self-professed dominatrix Song Jia-lun (宋佳倫) is a Green Party candidate for the Zhongzheng (中正) and Wanhua (萬華) districts. At 27, she is the youngest of the three candidates. Originally a summer campaign assistant for Wang, the charismatic Song decided to run in the election herself.
“There are ways to participate in politics if you think it’s filthy,” she said. “For me, the only way is to dive in and dilute it.”
Song grew up on the wrong side of the tracks in a small town in Miaoli County.
“I’ve tasted poverty,” she said. “The only way to participate in the redistribution of resources in society is to participate in politics.”
In 2004, Song cofounded the BDSM Company (皮繩愉虐邦), which holds lectures and meetings to raise awareness of and destigmatize sadomasochism.
“I read Japanese BL [boy love] manga when I was young and thought I was a gay man,” said Song, who is currently studying at graduate school. “Later on, I became bisexual before settling on being lesbian.”
Song’s political platform grew out of her personal experience rather than academic learning. She campaigns against contingent employment and exploitation, and supports the rights of the homeless. “When you are broke, you are not that far away from being homeless,” Song said.
Song advocates the legalization of the sex industry because, she says, it’s fair for people to utilize their “natural talents” to get by.
“If I could take on a job as a dominatrix legally, that would be a highly specialized job with a hefty salary,” she said. “Instead, I am forced to toil away in low-pay, contract jobs.”
“I want to fight for the rights of the people at the bottom of the capitalist structure and speak for the young people of my generation,” Song said.
Wang Ping
Wang Ping (王蘋), secretary-general of the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association in Taiwan (台灣性別人權協會), is an independent candidate in the Da-an (大安) and Wenshan (文山) districts. She is a member of the political discussion group Citizen As Priority Open Club (人民老大開開團).
A native of Taichung, Wang is a well-known LGBT activist who served as the convener-in-chief for the Taiwan LGBT Pride (台灣同志遊行) in 2007.
Wang, now 50, experienced a political awakening while pursuing a master’s degree in architecture at the University of California at Berkeley.
“I was a proper and obedient girl growing up in Taiwan,” Wang told the Taipei Times.
While in California, Wang would go to People’s Park in Berkeley to listen to lectures, or watch films about the civil rights movement in class. “That made me realize I could do something to change the society,” she said.
After returning to Taiwan, Wang joined the feminist Awakening Foundation (婦女新知), but later felt ostracized because of her status as a lesbian. She and several of her friends went on to found the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association.
“I felt it was wrong that a feminism group should look down on me because I am a lesbian,” Wang said. “I think all the underprivileged groups should coalesce to change the system — Aborigine, gay, lesbian, transgender, sex workers and people living with HIV.”
Wang advocates a comprehensive citizens’ forum that allows people to voice their opinions, which can later be drafted into policies.
“It’s wrong to project your ideals onto a politician and expect him or her to change things for you,” Wang said. “People should get involved and let their voices be heard.”
Wang takes issue with the Ministry of Education’s ban on LGBT clubs in high schools, implemented in March.
“Teenagers are at the stage of experiencing sexual awakening and they need support from their peers,” Wang said. “They should be able to form LGBT clubs.”
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su
It’s hard to know where to begin with Mark Tovell’s Taiwan: Roads Above the Clouds. Having published a travelogue myself, as well as having contributed to several guidebooks, at first glance Tovell’s book appears to inhabit a middle ground — the kind of hard-to-sell nowheresville publishers detest. Leaf through the pages and you’ll find them suffuse with the purple prose best associated with travel literature: “When the sun is low on a warm, clear morning, and with the heat already rising, we stand at the riverside bike path leading south from Sanxia’s old cobble streets.” Hardly the stuff of your
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist