The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday deleted an article on the Japanese-language version of its Web site that denounced LGBT people for “perversion,” after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) accused it of homophobia.
The article was originally published by the KMT on Oct. 31. An LGBT advocate identified as “Okinafa Chen” posted a screen grab of it on Facebook one week later with a translation and no comment.
Chen’s translation of the post read: “While homosexuals are naturally occurring, making laws for him [sic] is perversion, making husbands out of women and brides of men is extremely perverted, making laws for this perverted thing is even more perverted.”
Photo: Courtesy of Facebook user Okinafa Chen
“The DDP wants to make Taiwan a perverted country, we are not perverts, we do not want to be made into perverts, we will not stand for this and fuck you DPP,” it read.
According to the translation, the article called President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) DPP government “more evil and dictatorial” than the KMT.
DPP Legislator Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) on Facebook on Wednesday called the KMT’s post “rubbish.”
When asked for comment, Acting KMT Culture and Communications Committee Director-General Tang Te-ming (唐德明) said: “The article does not represent the KMT.”
After staff cutbacks, the KMT has been relying on volunteers to update content on the Japanese-language Web site and one volunteer had used it to post their personal opinion, he said, adding that the article had been deleted.
The party is to discuss whether it needs a Japanese-language site, he said.
In response, DPP spokesman Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said at a news conference yesterday that the KMT’s Japanese-language post was “vulgar, discriminatory and shameful,” and the DPP demands that the KMT issue a formal apology.
The article is contrary to the Council of Grand Justices’ constitutional interpretation in May last year regarding the right to marriage. It is discriminatory to gay people, distorts the marriage equality referendums and misrepresents Tsai and Taiwan, he said.
The post also failed to distinguish the DPP from the Japanese Democratic Party, as their names share the same Kanji characters, he said.
“As a political party in a democratic society, the KMT should not use scurrilous or discriminatory language against elements of society that hold or express opinions different to its own,” he said.
Additional reporting by CNA
The Taipei City Government yesterday said contractors organizing its New Year’s Eve celebrations would be held responsible after a jumbo screen played a Beijing-ran television channel near the event’s end. An image showing China Central Television (CCTV) Channel 3 being displayed was posted on the social media platform Threads, sparking an outcry on the Internet over Beijing’s alleged political infiltration of the municipal government. A Taipei Department of Information and Tourism spokesman said event workers had made a “grave mistake” and that the Television Broadcasts Satellite (TVBS) group had the contract to operate the screens. The city would apply contractual penalties on TVBS
The lowest temperature in a low-lying area recorded early yesterday morning was in Miaoli County’s Gongguan Township (公館), at 6.8°C, due to a strong cold air mass and the effect of radiative cooling, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. In other areas, Chiayi’s East District (東區) recorded a low of 8.2°C and Yunlin County’s Huwei Township (虎尾) recorded 8.5°C, CWA data showed. The cold air mass was at its strongest from Saturday night to the early hours of yesterday. It brought temperatures down to 9°C to 11°C in areas across the nation and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties,
A new board game set against the backdrop of armed conflict around Taiwan is to be released next month, amid renewed threats from Beijing, inviting players to participate in an imaginary Chinese invasion 20 years from now. China has ramped up military activity close to Taiwan in the past few years, including massing naval forces around the nation. The game, titled 2045, tasks players with navigating the troubles of war using colorful action cards and role-playing as characters involved in operations 10 days before a fictional Chinese invasion of Taiwan. That includes members of the armed forces, Chinese sleeper agents and pro-China politicians
STAY VIGILANT: When experiencing symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning, such as dizziness or fatigue, near a water heater, open windows and doors to ventilate the area Rooftop flue water heaters should only be installed outdoors or in properly ventilated areas to prevent toxic gas from building up, the Yilan County Fire Department said, after a man in Taipei died of carbon monoxide poisoning on Monday last week. The 39-year-old man, surnamed Chen (陳), an assistant professor at Providence University in Taichung, was at his Taipei home for the holidays when the incident occurred, news reports said. He was taking a shower in the bathroom of a rooftop addition when carbon monoxide — a poisonous byproduct of combustion — leaked from a water heater installed in a poorly ventilated
RSS