More than a dozen gay rights and women’s groups yesterday lashed out at former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) chairman Shih Ming-teh (施明德) over his questioning of DPP presidential contender Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) sexual orientation and demanded that he apologize to women.
“If, as Shih puts it, the sexual orientation of a presidential candidate is so important that it would have an impact on the direction of national policy, I’d like to ask him to elaborate on which gender or sexual orientation is best fit for a national leader,” Taiwan Women’s Link -secretary-general Tsai Wan-fen ---(蔡宛芬) said at a press conference in Taipei yesterday. “If he cannot explain, he should stop arguing, and apologize to all single women, gays and female politicians.”
On Thursday, Shih called on Tsai Ing-wen, who is single, to clarify her sexual orientation, saying voters deserved “a clear answer” before voting for her.
Photo: CNA
Both Awakening Foundation board director Fan Yun (范雲) and Taiwan Gender Equality Education Association secretary-general Lai Yu-mei (賴友梅), on the other hand, urged Shih to come up with concrete policy suggestions to promote gay rights if he really cares about the issue.
“By the way, if you [Shih] really care about homosexuals, you should learn this first lesson: Never force anyone to come out of the closet. If you do, you’re violating their rights,” Fan said, adding that the public — or individuals — should pay more attention to the public aspects of politicians’ lives, not the private.
Other groups taking part in the press conference included the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association, Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Taiwan, the Taiwan LGBT Pride Community and the Taiwan LGBT Family Rights Advocacy Association.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers yesterday also joined their DPP counterparts in blasting Shih.
Shih made no sense when he asked Tsai Ing-wen to disclose her sexual orientation, KMT Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾) said.
“Which law or regulation requires that disclosure? Moreover, it’s a violation of human rights to inquire into other people’s sexual orientation,” she said.
“There are too many women who have not married. If Shih presumed that [Tsai Ing-wen is a lesbian] just because she is single, he did Tsai [Ing-wen] a great favor as that would only arouse women’s sympathy [for Tsai Ing-wen],” Lo added.
Raising an issue about sexual orientation only showed that Shih was an “ungenerous” person, KMT Legislator Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) said.
“But if Tsai [Ing-wen] chose to declare her preference, it might not be bad for her chances [in winning the DPP primary] because that would show that she is brave, dedicated, candid and honest, which are all favorable traits in the -country,” Wu said.
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) said Shih was in fact aiming to boost Tsai Ing-wen’s chances of winning the primary.
“How could Shih not know that his remarks would incur anger from women activists, who would then step forward to voice support for Tsai [Ing-wen]?” Chiu said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat