The Humanistic Education Foundation on Wednesday said that Chang Gung University was forcing a transgender student who identifies as female to live in a male dormitory and protecting a military instructor accused of verbal harassment.
The student, identified by the pseudonym Siao Wen (小雯), provided documents regarding gender reassignment, foundation executive director Joanna Feng (馮喬蘭) said at a news conference at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei.
However, the university insisted that Siao Wen reside in the male dormitory.
“Siao Wen lived in a state of fear for her safety, causing significant psychological distress,” Feng said.
“When Siao Wen appealed to the dean of students at a school meeting, the university’s chief military instructor publicly humiliated her with a tirade that the university’s own gender equality commission later found to constitute gender-based discriminatory speech,” Feng said.
A man identified as the instructor on an audio recording played at the conference denied the existence of transgenderism and repeatedly said that Siao Wen should identify as a male.
Despite the commission’s finding, the university took no action against the instructor apart from eight hours of gender-equality education, Feng said, adding that the experience has traumatized Siao Wen.
“A military instructor capable of saying things like this is unsuited to be in an education environment and he should be asked to leave,” Feng said.
“All transgender women want is the right to be treated as ordinary women and the right to live ordinary lives,” Siao Wen said.
“How many transgender students have to drop out of university before the Ministry of Education addresses the situation? How many transgender people have to die before our basic rights are respected?” Siao Wen said.
Huang Lan-hsiu (黃蘭琇), an official at the ministry’s Department of Student Affairs and Special Education, said that no student deserves such treatment, regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.
The ministry’s policy forbids universities from practicing gender-based discrimination or subjecting students to unfair treatment, Huang said, adding that the department would prioritize resolving the situation.
University vice president Chen Jan-kan (陳君侃) said the university had tried to place Siao Wen in special accommodation with a private washroom on the first floor of the women’s dormitory, but Siao Wen demanded to live with other female students.
At the university’s gender equality commission hearing, female student representatives said they do not want to live with Siao Wen and said the school should consider the feelings of their parents, Chen said.
The university rejected Siao Wen’s medical documents, Chen said, without elaborating.
The school has complied with the government’s guidelines on gender equality and respects its students’ gender identity, Chen said.
Three batches of banana sauce imported from the Philippines were intercepted at the border after they were found to contain the banned industrial dye Orange G, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. From today through Sept. 2 next year, all seasoning sauces from the Philippines are to be subject to the FDA’s strictest border inspection, meaning 100 percent testing for illegal dyes before entry is allowed, it said in a statement. Orange G is an industrial coloring agent that is not permitted for food use in Taiwan or internationally, said Cheng Wei-chih (鄭維智), head of the FDA’s Northern Center for
The Chinese military has built landing bridge ships designed to expand its amphibious options for a potential assault on Taiwan, but their combat effectiveness is limited due to their high vulnerability, a defense expert said in an analysis published on Monday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said that the deployment of such vessels as part of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy’s East Sea Fleet signals a strong focus on Taiwan. However, the ships are highly vulnerable to precision strikes, which means they could be destroyed before they achieve their intended
LOOKING NORTH: The base would enhance the military’s awareness of activities in the Bashi Channel, which China Coast Guard ships have been frequenting, an expert said The Philippine Navy on Thursday last week inaugurated a forward operating base in the country’s northern most province of Batanes, which at 185km from Taiwan would be strategically important in a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. The Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted Northern Luzon Command Commander Lieutenant General Fernyl Buca as saying that the base in Mahatao would bolster the country’s northern defenses and response capabilities. The base is also a response to the “irregular presence this month of armed” of China Coast Guard vessels frequenting the Bashi Channel in the Luzon Strait just south of Taiwan, the paper reported, citing a
About 4.2 million tourist arrivals were recorded in the first half of this year, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. The growth continues to be consistent, with the fourth quarter of this year expected to be the peak in Taiwan, the agency said, adding that it plans to promote Taiwan overseas via partnerships and major events. From January to June, 9.14 million international departures were recorded from Taiwan, an 11 percent increase from the same period last year, with 3.3 million headed for Japan, 1.52 million for China and 832,962 to South Korea,
RSS