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.”
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS