Gender and labor rights activists yesterday demonstrated outside Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taipei against the sacking of a transvestite employee who preferred to dress in women’s clothing and use the ladies’ room at work, although he is biologically male.
“I am here to get back my right to work,” Chou Yi-jen (周逸人), surrounded by rights activists, told media during the protest.
“I just feel more comfortable dressing in female clothing and going to the ladies’ room. All of this does not interfere with my work performance and I never bother anybody,” he said. “In fact, before I was fired [last month], I received top grades in my work performance evaluation for the past five years I worked at the hospital.”
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
At first, Chou said he wore male clothes, but that made him so uncomfortable he had to see a psychiatrist, who suggested he should act according to his nature. As a result, Chou decided to dress as a woman. That was about nine months ago.
Since then, Chou had been threatened on several occasions and openly discriminated against by his supervisor.
“My supervisor asked me to get his permission every time I wanted to leave my seat, including when I needed to use the toilet or just to get water from the water fountain,” Chou said.
“This rule only applied to me,” he said.
Before he was fired, Chou worked in the hospital’s information and technology department.
On one occasion, all the employees were given a lunch box during a lunch meeting, Chou said.
“I was the only one who didn’t get a lunch box,” he said.
When Chou asked the colleague who was in charge of ordering lunch why he didn’t get a lunch box, “the colleague said the supervisor told her to pretend that I didn’t exist,” Chou said.
“I’m surprised that there are still employers who think the clothes an employee wears or which restroom he or she goes to is more important than his or her abilities,” said Josephine Ho (何春蕤), chair of National Central University’s Center for Gender/Sexuality Studies.
“The hospital said Chou was fired because of poor work performance, but he always received top grades in his work evaluations over the past five years,” she said.
Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Taiwan secretary-general Wang Ping (王蘋) said that by -treating Chou differently, such as asking him to get permission before leaving his desk, the hospital was in violation of the Gender Equality Employment Act (性別平等工作法), which prohibits such acts by employers based on an employee’s gender or gender identity.
Chou said he was preparing to file a lawsuit against the hospital.
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
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
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,
RSS