Nine Taipei City councilors from across party lines yesterday announced an alliance to promote gender equality and said they would monitor and question Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on policies concerning LGBT rights, independent Taipei City Councilor Chiu Wei-chieh (邱威傑) said.
The other councilors are the New Power Party’s Lin Ying-meng (林穎孟), Lin Liang-chun (林亮君) and Huang Yu-fen (黃郁芬); the Social Democratic Party’s Miao Po-ya (苗博雅); the Democratic Progressive Party’s Wang Min-sheng (王閔生), Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) and Wang Shih-chien (王世堅); and the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Dai Hsi-chin (戴錫欽).
As the final version of the Executive Yuan’s “enforcement act of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748,” which would recognize marriages between two people of the same sex who are at least 18 years old, is expected to go into effect on May 24, the alliance said it would make sure the city government protected those rights.
With Ko to report on his administration’s performance tomororw, Lin Ying-meng would ask him whether the household registration administration is ready to cope with the new regulations, as well as other gender equality policies, such as setting up baby changing stations in men’s public restrooms, she said.
Three alliance members were elected from the Daan-Wenshan (大安-文山) constituency, which is usually viewed as having more voters with traditional values, Miao said.
This indicates that support for gender equality is not “poison to votes” and more politicians should speak up to protect gender equality, she said.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but