Kaohsiung City Councilor Huang Jie (黃捷) yesterday urged people to avoid “spreading fear and fake news” online amid rumors that children readingthe book King & King would become gay.
King & King is an illustrated children’s book coauthored by Stern Nijland and Linda De Haan that tells the story a young prince falling in love with another prince.
The Ministry of Education has placed the book on this year’s recommended reading list for first graders.
Groups opposed to marriage equality claimed it was a “plot by the ministry to make children gay.”
One has even threatened schools and demanded that they remove the book from their shelves and recommended reading lists, Huang said.
“The essence of love is understanding. It is not something you can control or force,” Huang quoted the ministry as saying.
The ministry has said that the book provides “emotional education” and teaches children how to deal with others trying to control their emotions.
The book is appropriate for elementary-school-aged children and offers guidance on respecting cultural diversity, it said.
The groups are twisting the message behind the book and spreading misinformation, Huang said.
Other books that teach about diversity had also been targeted by the groups, including Oliver is a Sissy (奧力佛是個娘娘腔), The Boy Who Wears Skirts (穿裙子的男孩) and And Tango Makes Three (一家三口), she said.
The groups called for a boycott of these and other books, including Butterfly Duo Duo (蝴蝶朵朵), which teaches children about sexual assault and about telling people they trust if they become victims, she said.
“Gender equality education has never been aimed at cultivating homosexuality. Teaching children about the LGBT community will not turn children into homosexuals,” Huang said.
The groups should put aside their prejudices and earnestly attempt to understand the message behind the books teaching about diversity, she said.
“Do not hide in darkness spreading false and one-sided information that misleads society, and causes injury to minority groups,” she said.
She would “fully investigate all anti-gender equality messages” she finds, Huang said.
She would also form a gender-equality supervisory group with other city councilors, which would also promote equality education, she said.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
The Grand Hotel Taipei has rejected media reports claiming that the hotel had prevented CBS from broadcasting coverage of the Beijing summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on its premises. Media reports alleging that the hotel owner, dissatisfied with CBS’s coverage, prohibited the network from broadcasting political content on the hotel premises, are not true, the hotel said in a statement issued last night. The reports were “inconsistent with how the hotel actually handled the matter,” it said. The hotel said it received a refund request from a
RSS