On a sunny day in a park in Taipei, photographer Austin Haung advises a same-sex couple on how to pose for a pre-wedding photoshoot. For him, Taiwan’s reputation as a beacon of liberalism in the region means a thriving business.
“Our clients are mostly same-sex couples from overseas, including Hong Kong, Singapore, China and Malaysia,” said 32-year-old Haung, who hopes to turn his part-time job into a full-time business targeting gay newlyweds from across the region. “They said Taiwan is a reassuring place to do the shoot... If they do this in their own country, they worry about being identified or people raising eyebrows.”
Taipei has a celebrated annual gay pride parade that showcases the vibrancy of its LGBT community. The one-week celebration every October, the largest in the region, contributes more than US$3.3 million to the economy.
LGBT-related businesses are thriving in a nation where liberal attitudes have earned it a reputation as Asia’s “gay capital.”
In Asia’s first such ruling, the Council of Grand Justices declared in May last year that same-sex couples had the right to legally marry and set a two-year deadline for legalization.
However, in Saturday’s referendum Taiwanese voted against gay marriage.
The issue of same-sex marriage has divided the nation, at family dining room tables, online and on the streets.
A hub for LGBT rights advocates is the Gin Gin bookshop, which was raided by police in 2003 and 500 magazines seized.
“We have fought a long fight and now have loyal customers coming to our shop at least once a year from all over the world,” said Yang Pingjing (楊平靖), one of the store’s owners.
Rights advocates had said the conservative referendum was “discriminatory,” as it went against last year’s ruling that the laws contravened the right to freedom of marriage and equality.
“I’m not too worried about my business,” owner of the 24-hour Hans Men’s Sauna, surnamed Yu (余), said before the referendum. “Once a gay man, you will always be a gay man, no matter the result of the referendum.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by