Nine Taipei City councilors from across party lines yesterday announced an alliance to promote gender equality and said they would monitor and question Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on policies concerning LGBT rights, independent Taipei City Councilor Chiu Wei-chieh (邱威傑) said.
The other councilors are the New Power Party’s Lin Ying-meng (林穎孟), Lin Liang-chun (林亮君) and Huang Yu-fen (黃郁芬); the Social Democratic Party’s Miao Po-ya (苗博雅); the Democratic Progressive Party’s Wang Min-sheng (王閔生), Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and Wang Shih-chien (王世堅); and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Dai Hsi-chin (戴錫欽).
As the final version of the Executive Yuan’s “enforcement act of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748,” which would recognize marriages between two people of the same sex who are at least 18 years old, is expected to go into effect on May 24, the alliance said it would make sure the city government protected those rights.
With Ko to report on his administration’s performance tomororw, Lin Ying-meng would ask him whether the household registration administration is ready to cope with the new regulations, as well as other gender equality policies, such as setting up baby changing stations in men’s public restrooms, she said.
Three alliance members were elected from the Daan-Wenshan (大安-文山) constituency, which is usually viewed as having more voters with traditional values, Miao said.
This indicates that support for gender equality is not “poison to votes” and more politicians should speak up to protect gender equality, she said.
‘OBNOXIOUS MAN’: The KMT’s Chen Ching-hui moved into Chung Chia-pin’s path atop the podium and reached for him before he grabbed at her legs with both hands Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) yesterday said he slipped and lost his balance, and did not know who was around him, after jumping onto the speaker’s podium at the legislature in Taipei. He apologized after a collision with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽), who moved to intercept him as he mounted the podium. There was pushing and shoving when the session started in the morning as KMT lawmakers attempted to block access to the podium to shield Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) so he could preside over the session. Video footage showed Chung step on a chair and
Hungarian Member of Parliament Tompos Marton said he considers Taiwan to be a better alternative to China as a strategic partner. Marton, who is the vice president of the opposition Momentum Party, made the remarks in an interview with the Central News Agency on Sunday. He draped a Republic of China flag across his shoulders to protest Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to the capital city, Budapest, on Thursday last week, and openly voiced support for Taiwan on social media. He said in the interview that he wanted to remind the world that there were alternatives to China, and that “Taiwan has
A female physician at New Taipei City’s Shuang Ho Hospital was bullied and made to work for 32 consecutive hours by a senior colleague while pregnant before later having a miscarriage, an internal investigation found, the hospital said on Monday. The perpetrator has been removed from his post, the hospital said. The attending physician in the hospital’s Medical Imaging Department, identified by the pseudonym Y, earlier on Monday told reporters that she had been bullied by a male senior colleague who arranged shifts in her department. In January, shortly after she became pregnant, Y asked the department director if she could avoid overnight
Television presenter Mickey Huang (黃子佼) yesterday was indicted for allegedly possessing sexually explicit videos involving minors. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Huang after the High Prosecutors’ Office found deficiencies in its initial probe and on April 19 returned the case for further investigation. Earlier last month, Huang had been given two years of deferred prosecution. Prosecutors said that they found in their latest investigation that Huang had been a member of the online forum “Chuangyi Sifang” (創意私房) since Feb. 12, 2014. He purchased sexually explicit videos involving minors, and had downloaded images and videos that featured the breasts and sexual organs of young