As Taiwan's homosexuals have become more open about their sexual orientation, some in the gay community have turned an abandoned beach resort -- located in Tamshui (
But due to a spate of blackmailings, however, all is not well at this gay sanctuary.
Sha Lun Beach (
Many gather there to socialize, while others sunbathe or go swimming in the nude.
According to local media, some of the men engage in sexual congress either behind bushes that surround the area or inside lookouts that remain on the beach.
"This is a heaven for gay men," said A-Kai (
"I'm here to completely liberate myself and I don't care about what people think," added the man, who was taking a walk on the beach -- wearing nothing but his sandals.
Since the news has largely spread over the Internet, the beach -- just like the 228 Peace Park in downtown Taipei -- has become a "sacred land" for male homosexuals.
But this new "sacred land" has become clouded by fear -- a fear that gays at the beach are being targeted for blackmail.
Blackmailings that have thus far come to light all began under similar circumstances.
The victim is approached by a man while alone at the beach. After striking up a conversation -- with the victim responding positively to the man's friendly overtures -- a group of three or four other men appear, threatening to reveal the victims' sexual orientation while demanding that he turn over his wallet or ATM cards.
Fearing exposure, the victims usually obey the blackmailers' instructions and seldom report the incidents to the police.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
REVENGE TRAVEL: A surge in ticket prices should ease this year, but inflation would likely keep tickets at a higher price than before the pandemic Scoot is to offer six additional flights between Singapore and Northeast Asia, with all routes transiting Taipei from April 1, as the budget airline continues to resume operations that were paused during the COVID-19 pandemic, a Scoot official said on Thursday. Vice president of sales Lee Yong Sin (李榮新) said at a gathering with reporters in Taipei that the number of flights from Singapore to Japan and South Korea with a stop in Taiwan would increase from 15 to 21 each week. That change means the number of the Singapore-Taiwan-Tokyo flights per week would increase from seven to 12, while Singapore-Taiwan-Seoul
POOR PREPARATION: Cultures can form on food that is out of refrigeration for too long and cooking does not reliably neutralize their toxins, an epidemiologist said Medical professionals yesterday said that suspected food poisoning deaths revolving around a restaurant at Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 Store in Taipei could have been caused by one of several types of bacterium. Ho Mei-shang (何美鄉), an epidemiologist at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Biomedical Sciences, wrote on Facebook that the death of a 39-year-old customer of the restaurant suggests the toxin involved was either “highly potent or present in massive large quantities.” People who ate at the restaurant showed symptoms within hours of consuming the food, suggesting that the poisoning resulted from contamination by a toxin and not infection of the
BAD NEIGHBORS: China took fourth place among countries spreading disinformation, with Hong Kong being used as a hub to spread propaganda, a V-Dem study found Taiwan has been rated as the country most affected by disinformation for the 11th consecutive year in a study by the global research project Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem). The nation continues to be a target of disinformation originating from China, and Hong Kong is increasingly being used as a base from which to disseminate that disinformation, the report said. After Taiwan, Latvia and Palestine ranked second and third respectively, while Nicaragua, North Korea, Venezuela and China, in that order, were the countries that spread the most disinformation, the report said. Each country listed in the report was given a score,