On Monday, the Ministry of Education (MOE) celebrated the 10th anniversary of the enactment of the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法), patting itself on the back for promoting gender education in Taiwan. For the gay and lesbian community, however, there was much to lament.
The MOE caused an outcry in January when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) recommended Jseng Pin-chieh (曾品傑), a professor at National Chung Cheng University and Ting Hsueh-yin (丁雪茵), an associate professor at National Hsinchu University of Education as members of its Gender Equity Education Committee. According to a Storm Media Group (風傳媒) report, the former has made anti-gay remarks in public before, while the latter is a member of an alliance against same-sex marriage.
In response to criticism that these members are linked to homophobic religious groups, Ke Chin-wei (柯今尉), the chief of the MOE’s gender equality education and student counseling section, said that the MOE respects each committee member’s religious beliefs, adding that such appointments reflect diverse social opinion.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
REFLECTING DIVERSITY
This is simply absurd. Appealing to diversity of opinion to allow discrimination in the schools is a slap in the face for education. Following Ke’s logic, we can expect the MOE to appoint misogynists to protect women’s rights or child abusers to protect children’s rights — all, of course, under the guise of reflecting diversity.
Equally worrying are recent revelations by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康). Tuan wrote on his Facebook page last month that Taipei Municipal Jieshou Junior High School (介壽國中) had invited a production company to show students a film called Smiling Cross (微笑Cross).
The 2011 film, produced by Passion 99 International Movie Co (熱力九九國際電影有限公司), tells the story of a young male college student who longs for romance, but who has difficulty meeting women. Leaving aside the obvious overtones of the “cross” in the movie’s title, the story itself seems innocuous enough. The question-and-answer session that followed, however, is a textbook example as to why religious groups should be kept out of the public school system.
Tuan says that at the end of the screening, which took place in front of an estimated 700 eighth grade students, the film’s lead actor appeared in front of the assembled children and “confessed” to taking the wrong path, a thinly-disguised reference to being gay. Finding god, he added, set him on the right path — ie, he was cured of his homosexuality. He concluded the session by telling the students to lower their heads and pray.
ANTI-GAY EDUCATION?
The lawmaker says he learned of the incident following parent outrage that the school had signed off on the movie and discussion.
“Why did your school allow religious activists to play an anti-gay movie?” Tuan asked Lin Tsai-jui (林財瑞), the principal of Jieshou Junior High School.
Tuan added that schools should be responsible for teaching the students to respect difference, but was doing the opposite by allowing the dissemination of anti-gay propaganda.
“Imposing a certain standard for one’s sexual orientation is torturous for gay students,” he said. “The school should not try to forcefully change a student’s sexual orientation.”
Lin says that Tuan quoted him out of context.
“The movie was part of the school’s gender equality education, and the actor was just sharing his own experience with the students, not confessing his sexuality,” Lin said.
He added that the movie enables students to see that there are many kinds of options in life.
RELIGION AND THE STATE
This is disingenuous. According to Passion 99’s blog, the movie was played at dozens of schools, from primary and secondary schools to universities. Passion 99 is fully funded by Passion 99 Harvest Church (熱力九九豐收教會), a conservative Christian organization that was an active and vocal participant in a large anti-gay demonstration organized by religious groups in November last year.
It seems clear that the production company is simply a front for disseminating the church’s teachings. Indeed, in addition to the production company, Passion 99 Harvest Church has also established Harvest Character Education Promotion Association (豐收品格教育促進會) to promote the so-called “character education” for teenagers.
Both the production company and educational organization are registered to the same address as Passion 99 Harvest Church. Allowing the former into the state school system raises troubling questions about the separation of religion and the state.
Article 6 of the Education Basic Act (教育基本法) clearly states: “Public schools shall not engage in promotional or other activities for any religion or belief. Nor shall they force administrative personnel, teachers, or students to participate in any religious activity.”
This is an example of where the public schools and the MOE have failed to teach our children about the value of acceptance — be it gender or sexual orientation or any other perceived difference. The authorities in charge must act immediately to ensure that religious groups are not allowed into the public school system to teach hate.
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