Activists yesterday recommended a list of Taipei City and County legislative candidates sympathetic to homosexuals.
"Legislation ensuring homosexual rights must be passed," said Wang Ping (
"A hypocritical society might ask gays to stand up and fight whenever their rights are violated but won't support them once they do. Most homosexuals are forced to remain invisible, whatever happens to them, out of fear of discrimination after exposing their sexual orientation," she said.
PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The activists' campaign only involved Taipei City and County legislative candidates, but one candidate from Hsinchu has also been recommended. A shortage of activists prevented a nationwide campaign.
Activists produced the list of 10 lawmaker candidates after reviewing the previous attitudes and conduct of 35 candidates who signed an agreement to support legislation for gay rights.
The agreement, sent to 138 candidates, requested future legislators to request government aid to promote homosexual rights and to work for an "anti-discrimination act" and a "partnership registration act," which would grant homosexual couples the same legal rights enjoyed by couples who are in a heterosexual marriage, including inheritance and adoption rights.
"With the candidates' positive response, we feel optimistic about future progress in the legislature," Wang said.
The recommended candidates represent various parties, but most are independent.
Webster Chen (
He said he wants to show that gays are just like everyone else and deserve fair treatment."Without respect for gays, people won't really give equal treatment to us even with legislation," he said.
"Society should pursue a reconciliation with homosexuals. They don't hurt anyone," said another recommended candidate, legislator Shih Ming-teh (施明德), who attended the first gay wedding in Taiwan, and Asia, in 1996.
"I hope one day the mothers of homosexuals in Taiwan will be able to proudly admit that their children are gay, just as I saw in the New York gay parade," said independent candidate Sisy Chen (
Chu, although she represents Hsinchu, was recommended because of her strong advocacy of gay rights.
However, activists noted that only one of the 10 is a Taipei County candidate.
In fact, only 13 of the 69 seeking a legislative seat representing Taipei County signed the agreement.
"Efforts to introduce the idea of homosexual rights to residents outside the capital of Taipei should be strengthened," said Gofyy (喀飛, a pseudonym), standing committee member of the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline (同志諮詢熱線). "Many candidates in Taipei County don't have a clue about homosexuality."
Chu Wei-cheng, an activist and assistant professor at National Taiwan University, said that the poor response from Taipei County candidates possibly reflected the overall attitude of rural residents.
"They may fear that they will lose support by taking a pro-gay stance."
The International Industrial Talents Education Special (INTENSE) Program to attract foreigners to study and work in Taiwan will provide scholarships and a living allowance of up to NT$440,000 per person for two years beginning in August, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Pan was giving an update on the program’s implementation, a review of universities’ efforts to recruit international students and promotion of the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) program. Each INTENSE Program student would be awarded a scholarship of up to NT$100,000 per year for up to
Singapore yesterday swore in Lawrence Wong (黃循財) as the city-state’s new prime minister in a ceremony broadcast live on television after Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) stepped down following two decades in office. Wong, formerly deputy prime minister, was inaugurated at the Istana government office shortly after 8pm to become the second person outside the Lee family to lead the nation. “I ... do solemnly swear that I will at all times faithfully discharge my duties as prime minister according to law, and to the best of my knowledge and ability, without fear or favor, affection or ill-will. So help me God,” the
BASIC OPERATIONS: About half a dozen navy ships from both countries took part in the days-long exercise based on the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea An unpublicized joint military exercise between Taiwan and the US in the Pacific Ocean last month was carried out in accordance with an international code, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said yesterday. According to a Reuters report citing four unnamed sources, the two nations’ navies last month conducted joint drills in the Western Pacific. The drills were not made public at the time, but “about half-a-dozen navy ships from both sides, including frigates and supply and support vessels, participated in the days-long exercises,” Reuters reported, citing the sources. The drills were designed to practice “basic” operations such as communications, refueling and resupplies,
MUSICAL INTERLUDE: During the altercations, KMT Legislator Hsu Chiao-hsin at one point pulled out a flute and started to play the national anthem A massive brawl erupted between governing and opposition lawmakers in the main chamber of the legislature in Taipei yesterday over legislative reforms. President-elect William Lai (賴清德) is to be inaugurated on Monday, but his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lost its majority in the legislature and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has been working with the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) to promote their mutual ideas. The opposition parties said the legislative reforms would enable better oversight of the Executive Yuan, including a proposal to criminalize officials who are deemed to make false statements in the legislature. “The DPP does not want this to be