The 1979 rally is today seen as a crucial moment in Taiwan’s democratization, but back then it was portrayed as a senseless act of violence

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 06, 2015
By: Han Cheung  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan in Time: Dec. 7 to Dec. 13

The night of Dec. 12, 1979 was a restless one for the staff of Formosa Magazine (美麗島雜

誌), as they gathered in a building in Taipei where several of them lived.

Almost all of them would go on to become major Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) political players in the future, but for now, they were wanted criminals.

Two days previously, on Human Rights Day, the magazine, published by dangwai (黨外, “outside the party”) politicians opposing the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) one-party rule, organized a pro-democracy rally in Kaohsiung. The KMT sent troops and police to surround and intimidate the protesters, and things soon turned violent. Official injury numbers initially showed 183 officers and no civilians, a figure later reduced to 50.

Accounts of what actually happened changed over time, with perceptions today being more sympathetic to the dangwai than what was indicated in the KMT-controlled media.     [FULL  STOREY]

Pink News
Date: 31st October 2015
By: Joseph Patrick McCormick

The biggest Pride parade in Asia has taken place in Taiwan today.

Tens of thousands marched in the capital city of Taipei, to mark the country’s 13th annual

Taiwan LGBT Pride.

Nearly 80,000 supporters waved flags and placards, including some calling for marriage equality in downtown Taipei.

Despite being fairly progressive on LGBT issues, Taiwan has not yet legalised same-sex marriage.

A bill to do so has been stalled in the country’s parliament since 2013, when it was first proposed.

“There’s been huge changes in the society in recent years with a lot of grassroot efforts pushing for equality,” said Jennifer Lu, an out gay candidate for the Social Democratic Party for the 2016 election.

“But the government hasn’t kept pace. That’s why I want to run,” she told the AFP.

The favourite to become the next president of Taiwain, Tsai Ing-wen of the opposition party, the Democratic Progressive Party, is supportive of same-sex marriage.

In a Facebook video shared today, she said: “Everyone is equal before love.”

Several events including an LGBT film festival are taking place this year.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2015-10-31
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – An estimated 80,000 supporters of lesbian, gay, bisexual and

transgender rights marched through the streets of Taipei City Saturday in one of Asia’s largest such events.

Taiwan has often been named as the East Asian country most likely to see the legalization of same-sex marriage, but most recent proposals are unlikely to be approved because of the approaching January 16 presidential and legislative elections. The proposals will have to be submitted again to the new Legislative Yuan once it starts work.

While Taipei has hosted gay parades for 13 years, Saturday’s Taiwan LGBT Pride Parade was particularly large due to its combination with other events. A gay film festival and a choral festival were also taking place, while earlier in the week saw 300 activists from around Asia and beyond attend the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association Asia Conference.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/28
By: Christie Chen and Chao Li-yen

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) The central Taiwan city of Taichung will allow same-sex couples to participate in its biannual mass weddings next year, a city official said Wednesday.

The decision follows a similar one by the local governments of Taoyuan and Taipei, which included gay couples in their mass weddings last week for the first time.

Tsai Shi-yin (蔡世寅), director of the Taichung City Civil Affairs Bureau, said the paperwork could not be completed in time for the inclusion of same-sex couples in the city’s mass weddings this year, but the decision will be implemented next year.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/08
By: Christie Chen

Taipei, Oct. 8 (CNA) This Saturday, as Taiwan’s national flag, with a white sun in a blue

sky over crimson ground, flutters in the wind across the nation to celebrate the country’s National Day, hundreds of people in southern Taiwan will raise a different kind of flag to mark the day.

“We are seeking 500 people to hold up a gigantic rainbow flag near the Tainan City government on Saturday, to highlight how gays and lesbians do not have a voice, are not visible, and are not treated as equal citizens in this country,” Chien Chih-chieh (簡至潔), secretary-general of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, told CNA Thursday.

Members of the alliance are currently on a 28-day tour around Taiwan to drum up support for a same-sex marriage bill. They are scheduled to reach Tainan on Saturday and the flag-raising event will be one of the highlights of the tour.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-21
By: CNA and Staff Reporter

Several LGBT groups in Taiwan on Sunday “declared war” against what they called

homophobic religious groups attempting to gain seats in the Legislative Yuan next year to block the passage of a same-sex marriage bill.

The newly established Faith and Hope League is one such group, said Hsu Hsiu-wen, head of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, at a press conference that was held under the theme “Declaring All-Out War Against Homophobic Religious Forces.”

She said the Faith and Hope League, established on Sept. 6 by former legislator Joanna Lei and a number of Christian pastors, is actually a political party with an agenda to block a proposed amendment to the Civil Code that aims to legalize same-sex marriage.     [FULL  STORY]

Radio Free Asia
Date: 2015-08-10

A veteran Chinese dissident who served time in labor camp in the wake of the 1989

Tiananmen Square massacre has defected to Taiwan during a tourist visit to the democratic island.

Gong Yujian, who began a life of political activism after being heavily influenced by the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing, said he had made the decision in a bid to escape constant harassment by the authorities and a nationwide crackdown on critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party under President Xi Jinping.

Gong, who arrived in Taiwan on a tourist visa on July 22, said he had made the decision not to board his return flight with his fellow travelers on Aug. 6, instead applying for political refugee status with authorities in Taipei.

“People like me, who are the targets of persecution in China … live a life of the greatest possible suffering, and fear and pain,” Gong, who was sentenced to two years’ “re-education through labor” in 1994 for his support for the 1989 pro-democracy movement told RFA on Sunday.     [FULL  STORY]