The Social Democratic Party (SDP) — a center-left political party set to be launched on Sunday — yesterday announced its plans to field two prominent social activists for next year’s legislative elections: gay rights advocate Jennifer Lu (呂欣潔) and anti-death-penalty activist Miao Po-ya (苗博雅).
The two candidates — both openly lesbian — are to face off against incumbent male contenders from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), prompting the SDP to brand their campaign as “a showdown between girls and uncles.”
Lu plans to enter the race for Taipei’s Xinyi (信義) and Songshan (松山) districts against the KMT’s Alex Fai (費鴻泰), while Miao is to go up against the KMT’s Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) in Taipei’s Wenshan (文山) and southern Zhongzheng (中正) districts.
Photo: CNA
The campaign has aroused interest, as both KMT legislators have been accused of courting conservative groups in efforts to block legislation to legalize same-sex marriage — bringing gay rights issues into the national spotlight for next year’s legislative elections.
During a meeting with the Alliance of Religious Groups for the Love of Families Taiwan in September last year, Fai assured the group that he shared their views, saying that legislative motions to legalize same-sex marriage were “premature” and “lacked social consensus.”
Lai came under fire in January last year when he helped another conservative group arrange a meeting with then-premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺).
SDP Secretary-General Urda Yen (嚴婉玲) said that Lu’s and Miao’s campaign activities would be based only partly on issues related to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities.
She added that the candidates have a proven track record of advocating for human rights and promoting political activism among young people.
Miao, 28, is a human rights activist with a focus on judicial reform.
An outspoken critic of capital punishment, she formerly headed the legal affairs division at the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty.
Lu, 32, is best known for her work in promoting LGBT rights as a core member of the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association.
She said that she intends to spearhead reforms to social welfare institutions, saying that the nation’s current long-term care services for disabled citizens and children require a major overhaul.
GREAT POWER COMPETITION: Beijing views its military cooperation with Russia as a means to push back against the joint power of the US and its allies, an expert said A recent Sino-Russian joint air patrol conducted over the waters off Alaska was designed to counter the US military in the Pacific and demonstrated improved interoperability between Beijing’s and Moscow’s forces, a national security expert said. National Defense University associate professor Chen Yu-chen (陳育正) made the comment in an article published on Wednesday on the Web site of the Journal of the Chinese Communist Studies Institute. China and Russia sent four strategic bombers to patrol the waters of the northern Pacific and Bering Strait near Alaska in late June, one month after the two nations sent a combined flotilla of four warships
TAIWANESE INNOVATION: The ‘Seawool’ fabric generates about NT$200m a year, with the bulk of it sourced by clothing brands operating in Europe and the US Growing up on Taiwan’s west coast where mollusk farming is popular, Eddie Wang saw discarded oyster shells transformed from waste to function — a memory that inspired him to create a unique and environmentally friendly fabric called “Seawool.” Wang remembered that residents of his seaside hometown of Yunlin County used discarded oyster shells that littered the streets during the harvest as insulation for their homes. “They burned the shells and painted the residue on the walls. The houses then became warm in the winter and cool in the summer,” the 42-year-old said at his factory in Tainan. “So I was
THE TOUR: Pope Francis has gone on a 12-day visit to Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore. He was also invited to Taiwan The government yesterday welcomed Pope Francis to the Asia-Pacific region and said it would continue extending an invitation for him to visit Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the remarks as Pope Francis began a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific on Monday. He is to travel about 33,000km by air to visit Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Singapore, and would arrive back in Rome on Friday next week. It would be the longest and most challenging trip of Francis’ 11-year papacy. The 87-year-old has had health issues over the past few years and now uses a wheelchair. The ministry said
‘LEADERS’: The report highlighted C.C. Wei’s management at TSMC, Lisa Su’s decisionmaking at AMD and the ‘rock star’ status of Nvidia’s Huang Time magazine on Thursday announced its list of the 100 most influential people in artificial intelligence (AI), which included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家), Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) and AMD chair and CEO Lisa Su (蘇姿丰). The list is divided into four categories: Leaders, Innovators, Shapers and Thinkers. Wei and Huang were named in the Leaders category. Other notable figures in the Leaders category included Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Meta CEO and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Su was listed in the Innovators category. Time highlighted Wei’s
RSS