Gay groups in Taiwan oppose appointment of anti-gay activists to gender equality committee
Individuals who oppose gay equality should not be appointed to the Committee for Gender Equality, say gay rights groups
Photo: Screenshot from Taiwan School Textbooks to Introduce Gay Topics documentary / Queer Comrades
Sexuality rights NGOs including the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline
Association (TTHA) have raised their objection to Taiwan’s Ministry of
Education’s appointment of individuals who have opposed gay equality and
gay adoption to the Committee for Gender Equality.
According to the womenofchina.cn website, which is sponsored by the All-China Women's Federation, the NGOs say that any person who has publicly spoken out against LGBT people and rights should not become committee members. It further called on the ministry to reconsider the appointment of committee members.
The report noted that the Department of Student Affairs and Special Education had pointed out that according to preliminary investigation some members had rejected the draft bill over the issue of “diverse family formation.” But it is not clear if they had specifically “discriminated against homosexuals.”
The TTHA has been supporting and actively promoting gender equality education in Taiwan, notably through the inclusion of gay rights and sexual orientation topics in the new curriculum for elementary and junior high school.
In 2004, the Gender Equity Education Act was passed to "promote substantive gender equality, eliminate gender discrimination, uphold human dignity, and improve and establish education resources and environment of gender equality."
The inclusion of sexual orientation-related topics in the curriculum have however been met with opposition, with the TTHA and other gender and gay rights advocacy groups recently have had to file a slander suit against a group that stated that the gender equality curriculum would promote "sexual openness".
Same-sex marriage is not legal in Taiwan although there have been calls for it to be legalised for many years by gay rights groups.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese NGOs have called on the authorities to investigate the organisers last year’s Nov 30 rally in which some 200,000 protestors marched in defence of “traditional marriage” in Taipei.
According to the Taipei Times last Thursday, the Taiwan International Association for Gay Rights’ spokesman Chen Chih-Ming told a press conference on Wednesday that the coalition was not registered at the Ministry of the Interior, and that funding raised by the group had gone into church coffers was also suspicious.
He was quoted as saying that Taiwan’s Charity Donations Act states that donations made to religious groups cannot be used for nonreligious activities, and that the Nov 30 rally held by the Coalition for the Happiness of Our Next Generation had been designated a “civilian movement.”
“From the accounts I received of the donations, the Taiwan Lutheran Church raised NT$20 million (US$662,799) from the event, but it was not clear where the money went,” Chen told the Times, adding that he suspected the coalition was manipulating the anti-gay marriage subject to raise funds for the church.
Officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the ministry’s religion division, who were present at the press conference, said that the authorities will look into the allegations.
According to the womenofchina.cn website, which is sponsored by the All-China Women's Federation, the NGOs say that any person who has publicly spoken out against LGBT people and rights should not become committee members. It further called on the ministry to reconsider the appointment of committee members.
The report noted that the Department of Student Affairs and Special Education had pointed out that according to preliminary investigation some members had rejected the draft bill over the issue of “diverse family formation.” But it is not clear if they had specifically “discriminated against homosexuals.”
The TTHA has been supporting and actively promoting gender equality education in Taiwan, notably through the inclusion of gay rights and sexual orientation topics in the new curriculum for elementary and junior high school.
In 2004, the Gender Equity Education Act was passed to "promote substantive gender equality, eliminate gender discrimination, uphold human dignity, and improve and establish education resources and environment of gender equality."
The inclusion of sexual orientation-related topics in the curriculum have however been met with opposition, with the TTHA and other gender and gay rights advocacy groups recently have had to file a slander suit against a group that stated that the gender equality curriculum would promote "sexual openness".
Same-sex marriage is not legal in Taiwan although there have been calls for it to be legalised for many years by gay rights groups.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese NGOs have called on the authorities to investigate the organisers last year’s Nov 30 rally in which some 200,000 protestors marched in defence of “traditional marriage” in Taipei.
According to the Taipei Times last Thursday, the Taiwan International Association for Gay Rights’ spokesman Chen Chih-Ming told a press conference on Wednesday that the coalition was not registered at the Ministry of the Interior, and that funding raised by the group had gone into church coffers was also suspicious.
He was quoted as saying that Taiwan’s Charity Donations Act states that donations made to religious groups cannot be used for nonreligious activities, and that the Nov 30 rally held by the Coalition for the Happiness of Our Next Generation had been designated a “civilian movement.”
“From the accounts I received of the donations, the Taiwan Lutheran Church raised NT$20 million (US$662,799) from the event, but it was not clear where the money went,” Chen told the Times, adding that he suspected the coalition was manipulating the anti-gay marriage subject to raise funds for the church.
Officials from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the ministry’s religion division, who were present at the press conference, said that the authorities will look into the allegations.
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