May 17 was the International Day Against Homophobia, and organizers of the previous day’s Kaohsiung Pride Parade invited people with disabilities to participate. However, Chuang Ching-i, a member of the Alliance of Religious Groups for the Love of Families Taiwan, disagreed with the Kaohsiung Pride Parade’s invitation to disabled people, saying that it was already difficult enough for such people to gain social recognition and status, and that if they got themselves involved with gay issues they would be stigmatized by association. Chuang’s good friend Vincent Huang immediately issued a statement saying that, as disabled people, they should both have more empathy for the disadvantaged and speak out for them, but that Chuang had sided with “the oppressor” (heterosexuals), and that was why people with disabilities could not have lives of dignity and justice.
Huang took part in an experience-sharing event organized by the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, where he recounted how he caught polio soon after birth. He said that until the age of 29 he had done everything he could to be a “normal person”—challenged but not incapable—in the eyes of mainstream society. After coming to terms with his identity, he had pursued love courageously, he said.
Huang recalled that his parents could not believe that a person with disabilities could ever find a partner who was willing to take care of him for the rest of his life, until 16 years ago, when he met his current boyfriend. There was one time when he was sitting on the floor at home, mopping the floor with a duster, and his boyfriend angrily shouted at him, “I don’t want you to do this!” Huang sobbed as he said, “That was the first time in my life that I felt that there was someone, besides my mom, who cared so much about me.”
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者羅沛德
Huang stressed that he had not received more support from society because of his disability, but that it was when he accepted his identity as a gay man that many gay friends took very good care of him, and there were even many people who, seeing what life was like for the disabled, joined him in participating in the disabled people’s sexual rights movement. “My reason for speaking out is that I want society to know that there are people out there who are both gay and disabled, and I hope society will make an effort to understand and accept them,” he said.
(Liberty Times, translated by Ethan Zhan)
五月十七日是「國際不再恐同日」，前一天的高雄同志大遊行邀身障者共襄盛舉。然而護家盟的莊青一不認同高雄同志遊行納入身障者，認為身障者獲得社會認同與地位就已不易，若沾上同志議題，會被貼標籤或聯想。莊的好友黃智堅立刻發聲明表示，兩人同為身障者，應有更多同理心為弱勢發聲，但莊卻站在「壓迫者（異性戀）那一方」，是殘障者不能有尊嚴及公平人生的原因。
黃智堅現身伴侶盟舉辦的「彩虹好厝邊，做伙聽故事」，分享自己出生不久便患小兒麻痺，直到廿九歲前都在努力迎合主流社會眼中「殘而不廢」的「正常人」，他了解自己認同後，勇敢追愛。
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Liberty Times
照片：自由時報記者羅沛德
黃智堅回憶，過去父母始終不相信身障者能找到願意照顧自己一輩子的另一半，直到十六年前遇見現任男友，有回自己坐在家中地上，拿抹布擦地，男友大罵「我不希望你如此」，他哽咽說，「除了母親，生命中第一次感受到有人如此關心我」。
黃智堅強調，自己沒有因殘障得到更多社會支持，反而接納自己同志身分後，真實地獲得同志朋友們的照顧，甚至許多人看到身障者處境，與他一起投身身障者性權運動，「我站出來就是想要讓社會知道殘障同志存在，並期許社會能進一步了解與接受」。
(自由時報記者蕭婷方)
As bee populations around the world continue to decline at an alarming rate, scientists are developing an innovative solution: robotic bees. Recent advances at research institutions like Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US have produced tiny flying robots capable of performing pollination tasks similar to those of real bees. These tiny machines represent an impressive technological achievement. MIT’s latest models can hover in the air for over 1,000 seconds and perform complex movements, demonstrating the agility needed for successful pollination. The robots are designed to mimic the flight patterns of natural bees, offering potential support to agriculture
A: Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage on May 24, 2019, so this week marks the seventh anniversary of that milestone. By the end of 2024, a total of 32,126 LGBT couples had tied the knot. B: How many of them got married to foreign partners? A: In 2024, there were 504 cross-border same-sex marriages. By the end of that year, there were 130 cross-strait same-sex marriages between Taiwanese and Chinese — accounting for only about 0.4 percent of the total. B: I’ve heard that a seven-year marriage brings the “seven-year itch.” I bet some couples regret their decisions now. A:
A: While Taiwan is celebrating the 7th anniversary of legalizing same-sex marriage, a poll shows that the support rate for same-sex marriage rose sharply from 37.4 percent seven years ago to 69.9 percent last year. B: Actually, I’m a bit curious about the size of Taiwan’s LGBT population. A: I’m not sure. But if we take a Gallup poll in the US as an example, 9.3 percent of American adults identified as LGBT in 2024. B: Wow, is it because the Americans are relatively open? In many other countries, the figures hover around 5 percent. A: Based on this,
As climate change and urbanization push city temperatures higher, walking outdoors is becoming increasingly uncomfortable in many parts of the world, especially when prolonged time spent in sunlight is involved. As a result, outdoor lovers are now seeking cooler, shaded walking routes. However, most mainstream map apps still do not __1__ shaded footpaths. Enter routing.osm.ch — a Swiss web-based route planner that introduces a novel solution to this problem. Its “Vampire mode,” named after the legendary creatures’ fear of being __2__ natural light, was developed by a Swiss research team led by Professor Stefan Keller. The platform combines open data from
RSS