Tomorrow the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and their supporters will take to the streets for the Sixth Taiwan Pride Parade. Last year’s LGBT parade was reportedly the largest in Asia, attracting more than 15,000 people, which demonstrates a growing awareness of the marginalization of these groups.
However, although Taiwan’s homosexual community has made great strides, the transgender, and specifically transsexual, community still has a long way to go in gaining acceptance.
Last October, the Ministry of the Interior issued an executive order that female-to-male (FTM) transsexuals cannot change their national ID cards until they have fully transitioned from one gender to another, in other words, completed genital reconstruction.
The revision was a huge step backwards because the old rule stated that transsexuals were only required to go through the first two stages: removal of the inner reproductive organs and breasts. The decision would be hilarious — there are “ordinary” men without penises — if it didn’t have such far-reaching implications for transsexuals.
Responding to complaints by activists, Household Registration Department official Lin Yu-hsi (林佑熹) told a press conference on Wednesday that the order was the result of an inquiry from a household registration office in Taitung County.
“We contacted the Department of Health [DOH], and we replied [to the inquiry] according to the DOH’s response,” he said.
This is passing the buck on to another ministry — and one generally accepting of the transsexual community. What the order really seems to revolve around is the issue of compulsory military service, which is relevant when a person changes his ID from female to male. Before the executive order was sent out, a doctor’s certificate was enough for a transsexual to change an ID without having to perform military service.
The revision adds unnecessary stress to a group that is already greatly marginalized. For starters, the transition time includes a procedure taking around two years and costing NT$400,000; completing sex reassignment surgery can take more than three years and cost upwards of NT$800,000 — a staggering amount of money for many in the transsexual community.
This makes, for example, finding a job extremely difficult, because as soon as an employer notices the discrepancy between a person’s appearance and the gender listed on an ID card, the likelihood of getting a job is greatly reduced.
It also does nothing to reduce tremendous family pressures to be “normal” — not to mention that many parents blame themselves for not raising their children properly.
This raises another issue. Outside the psychiatric sector, there is only one support group in Taiwan, the Taipei-based TG Butterfly Garden (台灣TG蝶園), for the transgender community. Although it has been around for eight years, it has yet to acquire non-governmental organization status because doing so requires that members reveal their identity, something many are reluctant to do because of prejudice and invasive regulations. Consequently, the transgender community and their families in central and southern Taiwan have had little choice but to rely on the telephone or Internet as a means of support.
Although this weekend celebrates Taiwan’s gender and sexual diversity, the interior ministry continues to marginalize the transsexual community through a ridiculous rule. Hopefully, the ministry will keep its word, reverse its policy and remove the cloud hanging over this weekend’s parade.
Two weeks ago, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) raised hackles in Taiwan by posting to her 2.6 million Instagram followers that she was visiting “Taipei, China.” Yeoh’s post continues a long-standing trend of Chinese propaganda that spreads disinformation about Taiwan’s political status and geography, aimed at deceiving the world into supporting its illegitimate claims to Taiwan, which is not and has never been part of China. Taiwan must respond to this blatant act of cognitive warfare. Failure to respond merely cedes ground to China to continue its efforts to conquer Taiwan in the global consciousness to justify an invasion. Taiwan’s government
Earlier signs suggest that US President Donald Trump’s policy on Taiwan is set to move in a more resolute direction, as his administration begins to take a tougher approach toward America’s main challenger at the global level, China. Despite its deepening economic woes, China continues to flex its muscles, including conducting provocative military drills off Taiwan, Australia and Vietnam recently. A recent Trump-signed memorandum on America’s investment policy was more about the China threat than about anything else. Singling out the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a foreign adversary directing investments in American companies to obtain cutting-edge technologies, it said
The recent termination of Tibetan-language broadcasts by Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a significant setback for Tibetans both in Tibet and across the global diaspora. The broadcasts have long served as a vital lifeline, providing uncensored news, cultural preservation and a sense of connection for a community often isolated by geopolitical realities. For Tibetans living under Chinese rule, access to independent information is severely restricted. The Chinese government tightly controls media and censors content that challenges its narrative. VOA and RFA broadcasts have been among the few sources of uncensored news available to Tibetans, offering insights
“If you do not work in semiconductors, you are nothing in this country.” That is what an 18-year-old told me after my speech at the Kaohsiung International Youth Forum. It was a heartbreaking comment — one that highlights how Taiwan ignores the potential of the creative industry and the soft power that it generates. We all know what an Asian nation can achieve in that field. Japan led the way decades ago. South Korea followed with the enormous success of “hallyu” — also known as the Korean wave, referring to the global rise and spread of South Korean culture. Now Thailand