Gender equality groups yesterday presented an LGBTQ white paper, urging presidential candidates from the three major parties to consider the needs and experiences of the LGBTQ community and propose gender equality policies ahead of next year’s elections.
This month is marked internationally as Pride Month, and many politicians worldwide have spoken about policy issues for LGBTQ rights, Rainbow Equality Platform chief executive officer Teng Chu-yuan (鄧筑媛) said.
The group hopes the white paper would provide some insight for Taiwanese politicians and that the presidential candidates would include the LGBTQ community in their vision of Taiwan’s future, she told a news conference in Taipei.
Photo courtesy of the Rainbow Equality Platform
Parties need to be more active in making politics more gender-equal, encouraging more LGBTQ political participation and increasing the number of politicians that are openly LGBTQ, group member Weng Yu-ching (翁鈺清) said.
The group’s is creating a similar Web page to Pride Watch, which monitored last year’s local elections and encouraged people to keep track of LGBTQ-related issues on the Web site.
The white paper suggested that schools and education institutions install teachers at all levels who are cognizant, accepting and would not shy from discussion of gender equality issues, Taiwan Gender Equity Education Association secretary-general Han Yi-chen (韓宜臻).
Recent sexual harassment cases have shown that students are not the only people who require gender equality education, Han said.
Since the amendments to the Act for Implementation of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 (司法院釋字第748號解釋施行法) were passed in 2019, many same-sex couples have faced difficulties in applying for birth subsidies, visa extensions to care for their children and nationality recognition issues for international families, Taiwan LGBT Family Rights Advocacy Association secretary-general Li Hsuan-ping (黎璿萍) said.
Parties should be aware of the difficulties and needs facing same-sex families and address these issues, she said.
The government’s statistics — which show fewer than 10 gender-equality lawsuits filed annually on the grounds of being bullied or discriminated against due to gender or sexual identity — do not accurately reflect the reality, Taiwan LGBTQ Hotline Association secretary-general Tu Ssu-cheng (杜思誠) said.
Tu urged the government to implement more friendly policies to address gender equality complaints being dropped because the plaintiff did not wish to be “outed.”
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
COMMUNITY SPIRIT: As authorities were busy with post-typhoon cleanups elsewhere, residents cleaned fallen leaves and cut small fallen trees blocking the hiking trails All hiking trails damaged by Typhoon Kong-rey have been repaired and has reopened for people who want a refreshing hike in Taipei during the Lunar New Year holiday, a city official said. The Taipei Basin is known for its easily accessible hiking trails. It has more than 130 trails combined into the 92km-long Taipei Grand Trail, which was divided into seven major routes when it was launched by the Taipei City Government in 2018. Last year, a part of the sixth route of the Grand Trail collapsed due to Typhoon Kong-rey, which hit Taiwan in October. The damaged section belongs to one
RSS