Two months of Gay and Lesbian Awakening Day (GLAD) events drew to a close yesterday with gay and lesbian college groups presenting the results of GLAD 2004 while criticizing government repression of sexual identity expression.
The nine-year-old event was organized by 13 college groups this month and last, and included events such as a film festival and a literary and artistic expression competition. The event has traditionally focused on spreading awareness and encouraging dialogue about gay issues.
In light of government actions against the gay community, however, such as the confiscation of magazines from gay bookstore Gin Gin's last year and the recent lawsuit against controversial feminist Josephine Ho (何春蕤) for placing a bestiality link on her website, this year's GLAD organizers decided to speak out.
The groups yesterday advocated placing nude male photos in male restrooms as a symbolic attack on Article 235 of the Criminal Code (中華民國刑法), which states that anyone found distributing indecent audio, visual or written materials faces prosecution.
"Article 235 has been used recently to repress personal expression, so we advocated putting nude photos in public restrooms to expose the ridiculousness of the government's claims," said Kao Yi-chao (高穎超), an event organizer and graduate student in National Taiwan University's sociology department.
"It seems very natural to see nudity in commonplace situations; for example, in bathrooms or pools. Why is it, then, that seeing the real thing is OK, but seeing material reproductions is not?" Kao said.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
Taipei is participating in Osaka’s Festival of Lights this year, with a 3m-tall bubble tea light installation symbolizing Taiwan’s bubble tea culture. The installation is designed as a bubble tea cup and features illustrations of Taipei’s iconic landmarks, such as Taipei 101, the Red House and North Gate, as well as soup dumplings and the matchmaking deity the Old Man Under the Moon (月下老人), affectionately known as Yue Lao (月老). Taipei and Osaka have collaborated closely on tourism and culture since Taipei first participated in the festival in 2018, the Taipei City Department of Information and Tourism said. In February, Osaka represented
POOR IMPLEMENTATION: Teachers welcomed the suspension, saying that the scheme disrupted school schedules, quality of learning and the milk market A policy to offer free milk to all school-age children nationwide is to be suspended next year due to multiple problems arising from implementation of the policy, the Executive Yuan announced yesterday. The policy was designed to increase the calcium intake of school-age children in Taiwan by drinking milk, as more than 80 percent drink less than 240ml per day. The recommended amount is 480ml. It was also implemented to help Taiwanese dairy farmers counter competition from fresh milk produced in New Zealand, which is to be imported to Taiwan tariff-free next year when the Agreement Between New Zealand and
IDENTITY SHIFT: Asked to choose to identify as either Taiwanese or Chinese, 83.3 percent of respondents chose Taiwanese, while 8.4 percent chose Chinese An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese, 71.5 percent, think that Taiwan should compete in international competitions under the name “Taiwan,” a Taiwan Brain Trust survey published yesterday showed. Referring to Taiwan’s victory last month at the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s Premier12, the survey results showed that 89.1 percent of respondents said that Taiwan’s exceptional performance in sporting competitions furthers national unity. Only 18.8 percent of respondents supported Taiwanese teams’ continued use of the name “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting competitions, the survey showed. Among Taiwan’s leading political parties, the name “Team Taiwan” was supported by 91.1 percent of self-identified Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) supporters,
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