More than 30 homosexual and transgender activists demonstrated early yesterday morning outside the Keelung District Court in support of Gin Gin bookstore owner Lai Jeng-jer (
"No guilt in nudity! The male body is beautiful!" said some of the protesters' banners.
Lai was appearing in court for allegedly selling pornographic material at his store, which deals in homosexual and transgender materials.
PHOTO: YANG PEI-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
The demonstration was spearheaded by the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline and performed skits in support of Lai.
At one point, a man and a woman in flesh-colored body suits stood in identical poses while a mock judge wearing "patriarchal/heterosexual spectacles" studied them to decide who was the more "perverse."
The protest remained peaceful for the most part, though a minor dispute occurred when the judges decided to close the hearing to the public.
"The court's official reason for a private hearing was to shield potentially offensive evidence from the public eye," Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline spokesman Ashley Wu (
Besides workers from the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline, the protesters consisted of the Gin Gin bookstore's customers, members of the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association, a male homosexual student organization at National Taiwan University, and the sexuality research center at National Central University.
The homosexual community has rallied around Lai after more than 500 copies of four magazines were seized by police last August.
"We're optimistic," Lai said after his court appearance. "We have faith that Taiwan's justice system will give us homosexuals our due."
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