More than 30 homosexual and transgender activists demonstrated early yesterday morning outside the Keelung District Court in support of Gin Gin bookstore owner Lai Jeng-jer (
"No guilt in nudity! The male body is beautiful!" said some of the protesters' banners.
Lai was appearing in court for allegedly selling pornographic material at his store, which deals in homosexual and transgender materials.
PHOTO: YANG PEI-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
The demonstration was spearheaded by the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline and performed skits in support of Lai.
At one point, a man and a woman in flesh-colored body suits stood in identical poses while a mock judge wearing "patriarchal/heterosexual spectacles" studied them to decide who was the more "perverse."
The protest remained peaceful for the most part, though a minor dispute occurred when the judges decided to close the hearing to the public.
"The court's official reason for a private hearing was to shield potentially offensive evidence from the public eye," Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline spokesman Ashley Wu (
Besides workers from the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline, the protesters consisted of the Gin Gin bookstore's customers, members of the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association, a male homosexual student organization at National Taiwan University, and the sexuality research center at National Central University.
The homosexual community has rallied around Lai after more than 500 copies of four magazines were seized by police last August.
"We're optimistic," Lai said after his court appearance. "We have faith that Taiwan's justice system will give us homosexuals our due."
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS