A coalition of civic groups advocating sexual equality yesterday staged a protest in front of the Ministry of Justice building, calling on the government to approve amendments to allow same-sex marriage.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights groups, along with women’s empowerment and social welfare organizations, joined the demonstration and a press briefing in front of the building.
Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights chief executive officer Victoria Hsu (許秀雯) said the alliance wanted to rally support from the public and other civic groups to counter a recent online government survey, which she said was misleading and was designed to prevent the introduction of and deliberation on the “marriage equality” bill in the legislature.
Photo: CNA
Hsu was referring to the ministry’s online survey, posted on the National Development Council Web site earlier this month, which includes questions such as whether the legislature should approve the law on legalizing “same-sex marriage” and extending rights protection to same-sex couples
Hsu said that more than 10,000 netizens voted on the questions, and several thousands left messages to provide their viewpoints and suggestions.
However, Hsu said the ministry “deliberately left out” one important aspect, that is, legalizing same-sex marriage by amending the Civil Code, which was not provided as a choice for netizens to vote on.
“We are happy to see that all levels of government have begun to solicit public opinions on these issues, and it is good to offer an online platform for open discussion by people,” Hsu said.
”However, the Ministry of Justice’s survey on the National Development Council Web site had dubious intentions. We suspect it is just a smokescreen to obfuscate and hamper the judicial process for the [sexual equality] bills’ passage,” she added.
Alliance secretary-general Chien Chih-chieh (簡至潔) questioned the ministry’s motives and accused it of trying to mislead the public.
The coalition and LGBT rights activists are advocating the legalization of same-sex marriage and sexual equality rights.
However, other groups such as school parents associations, church and religious groups oppose the measures, saying it would destroy family institutions, morality and traditional values.
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,