Social groups yesterday said that while the government was promoting human rights enthusiastically, other rights regarding gender identification, sex and sexuality were actually moving backwards.
"In 1966 the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights was passed to forbid promotion of discrimination against ethnic groups or religious hatred, and the covenant has also been extended to cover discrimination against sexual orientation and disability over the years," said Wang Ping (王蘋), secretary-general of the Taiwan Gender/Sexuality Rights Association.
"That was the human rights concept which already existed 36 years ago. But if we examine Taiwan using this standard, many Taiwanese legislators have broken the law, and even the vice president herself is a violator," Wang said. He was referring to legislators' malicious language and attitudes toward women, and Vice President Annette Lu's (呂秀蓮) statement that AIDS is a punishment from the gods.
The Taiwan Gender/Sexuality Rights Association, the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters, the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline, the Transgender Butterfly Garden and the Persons with HIV/AIDS Rights Advocacy Association of Taiwan yesterday also announced the ten major news stories this year about sexual rights violation.
The ten stories are:
-- The closing down of National Central University English professor Josephine Ho's Web site, which contained a link to bestiality, and a raid on the gay bookshop Gingin for openly selling homoerotic magazines.
-- Vice President Annette Lu called the spread of AIDS s a form of punishment from the gods, and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hou Shui-sheng (侯水盛) said that if gays all got married, no-one would have children anymore and Taiwan would perish.
-- The launching of the National Health Insurance IC card, which contains a comprehensive medical history of the patient and might reveal illnesses the patient is unwilling to have publicized.
-- The discriminative definitions of "homosexual," "transgender," "sex industry workers," and "AIDS" in the Chinese dictionary released by the Ministry of Education.
-- Police officers paid men to have sex with prostitutes, then arrest the prostitutes afterwards to improve their performance records.
-- Police officers tested both urine and blood of clubbers during a raid on a gay bar in Kaohsiung to see whether the clubbers have taken ecstasy or have AIDS.
-- Cheng Hui-fang (鄭惠芳), a mafia chief in Chiayi, was thought to be male when first arrested in December. But later it was found he was a transgender person, who underwent female-to-male surgery earlier this year. There have been lots of sensational reports regarding Cheng's gender and sexuality.
-- Taiwanese snakeheads threw smuggled Chinese women into the sea, where some drowned.
-- Transsexuals Lin Kuo-hua (林國華) and Tsai Ya-ting (蔡雅婷) committed suicide.
-- Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yu Yueh-hsia (游月霞) called Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) an "old maid" and said that those who do not get married must have some kind of problem, while DPP Legislator Tsai Chi-fang (蔡啟芳) was heard to say during a legislative session, "[Independent Legislator] Sisy Chen (陳文茜) said her breasts are for socializing. I also want to socialize with her breasts."
A representative from the Transgender Butterfly Garden, who wished to remain anonymous, said that most of the time doctors would say transgender people suffer from gender identification and emotional problems, which meant that if transgender people returned to "normal" they would not be troubled anymore.
"But it is the public's narrow-mindedness and stereotypical concept of sex and gender that need diagnosis and treatment," he said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
REWRITING HISTORY: China has been advocating a ‘correct’ interpretation of the victory over Japan that brings the CCP’s contributions to the forefront, an expert said An elderly Chinese war veteran’s shin still bears the mark of a bullet wound he sustained when fighting the Japanese as a teenager, a year before the end of World War II. Eighty years on, Li Jinshui’s scar remains as testimony to the bravery of Chinese troops in a conflict that killed millions of their people. However, the story behind China’s overthrow of the brutal Japanese occupation is deeply contested. Historians broadly agree that credit for victory lies primarily with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)-led Republic of China (ROC) Army. Its leader, Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a
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