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13 May 2011

Taipei gay rights groups and conservative Christian group clash over new gender equality school curriculum

Gender and gay rights advocacy groups on Thursday filed a lawsuit against a group they say is deliberately spreading falsehoods to undermine a new gender equality curriculum originally set to be introduced in schools in September.

Several groups including the Taiwan Gender Equality Education Association (TGEEA) has filed a lawsuit with the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Thursday morning, reported the Taipei Times newspaper. The lawsuit was filed against the Taiwan Union for True Love which gay rights groups say was deliberately spreading falsehoods to undermine a new gender equality curriculum originally set to be introduced in schools in September. 

“We are suing a Mr Chi [齊] from the so-called ‘Union for True Love’ because the group has repeatedly spread lies in an effort to undermine the gender equality curriculum,” said Lo Hui-wen (羅惠文), a member of TGEEA in the Times. “We do not know Mr Chi’s real name, because he has never revealed it.” 

The TGEEA was joined by members from the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association, the Taiwan Adolescent Association on Sexualities, the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Taiwan and the Tong-Kwang Light House Presbyterian Church in a demonstration outside the Ministry of Education before heading to the prosecutors’ office.

The controversy over the curriculum made the news in late April after members of the Union for True Love took what they claimed were excerpts from a textbook to lawmakers, who then called for the curriculum to be suspended until the controversy had been cleared up.

In Taiwan, gender equality-related courses are currently taught in senior high school in accordance with the Gender Equity Education Act that was passed in 2004. The Act bans gender discrimination in schools in Taiwan, and stipulates that school curricula should include gender equality education. 

The MOE says the new directive will allow teachers to introduce the topic in September in elementary and junior high schools, with the aim of teaching children and teenagers to understand and respect diversity in sexual orientation from a younger age.

At a press conference and on Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association's website, the groups detailed the false information propagated by the Union for True Love as part of its efforts to undermine the proposed gender equality curriculum as promoting “sexual openness.”

The Times noted:

For example, the Union for True Love has claimed the curriculum was teaching children sexual positions and it has said it encourages children to try different types of relationships — even polygamy.

“The curriculum mentions none of those things,” TGEEA secretary-general Lai Yu-mei (賴友梅) said.

The Union for True Love has also deliberately twisted some of actual content of the curriculum, Lai said.

For example, the union has said the curriculum promotes gay marriage, but in fact the part on gay marriage is introduced in a section on different types of families, including single-parent families, transnational families, gay families and adoptive families.

Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association board member Goffy told the newspaper that based on his investigative work he believes the Union for True Love comprises members of conservative Christian churches.

“They say they’re opposed to ideas on sex that are ‘too open.’ In fact, they are just anti-gay,” Goffy was quoted as saying. “They launched an online petition against the curriculum, but their demands have been revised several times and only the attacks on homosexuals remain.”

Taiwan

Reader's Comments

Comment #1 was deleted by its author on 2011-05-16 16:43
2. 2011-05-14 01:12  
Only 4.5% of population in TW are Christians according to Wikipedia. Why other adherents don't seem to have problems with this? 95.5%??
3. 2011-05-14 03:36  
It's Asian Christians that give Christians a bad name this side of the world. I speak of this, as an Asian brought up in a very Christian environment. Everywhere you look in any Asian country except in Japan, there's always these Asian-Christians thinking,acting & behaving like they are head & shoulders above, and dare i say, superior- over their counterparts. Perhaps they're more attracted to (and more interested in) the "Western" aura of Christianity than truly believing in the Gospel of Jesus....or are most of the churches throughout Asia..affiliated with the US Evangelical Movement???
Comment #4 was deleted by its author on 2011-08-13 17:36
5. 2011-05-15 02:28  
they're just imposing the truth of their believes and yet they don't think about how it will cause to the society...

the only thing that shows to the people is to dislike them...

A sort of the same situation here in the Philippines about Reproductive Health Bill - (The Present Administration who's pro to make his Bill Against R. Catholic Bishops in the phil as Anti to this Bill..:D)
6. 2011-05-15 03:27  
Religious beliefs have been a menace to civil liberties for a very long time. However, we have come a long way at eliminating the influence of it in our lives. Eventually the current religious beliefs( Christianity, Islam, etc) will become mythology just as the older ones (e.q. Norse gods, Egyptian gods, Greek gods)
7. 2011-05-15 07:42  
Why can't we co-exist peacefully, respect and accept each other with an open heart and understanding?
Doesn't that what most religion in the world teaches? Why do people need and try so hard to impose and force moral values/standards, beliefs and many other measurements onto others?
Comment #8 was deleted by its author on 2011-08-13 17:37
9. 2011-05-15 18:35  
Don't worry, the Rapture is coming on the 21st May and we'll be rid of the Christians then.
Good riddance to a lot of bad rubbish.
10. 2011-05-15 21:44  
Stop abusing words, Union for True Hatred!
11. 2011-05-16 11:35  
Gender awareness and sexuality is such a sensitive topic for people of any age in a culture with a long history of being conservative. Introducing the topic to the academe is a bold move. The curriculum must be one hell of an academic plan. I'd like to take a look at that curriculum.
12. 2011-05-18 01:44  
how long will this type of conflicts last?

Comment #13 was deleted by its author on 2011-08-13 17:37
14. 2011-05-18 21:36  
You cannot indoctrinate people with dogma about "sexual equality" it is just a PC version of the Inquisition, especially when it gets to the point as in Europe and Australia where you can get fined or jailed for denying sexual equality or practising any form of discrimination. Heterosexual men are different from heterosexual women and their roles are NOT interchangeable.

We who are gay are different from heterosexuals. We need freedom, and bigots need also need the freedom to express their ideas as long as we can challenge them. Stifling everything with a "curriculum" is sinister to me, as sinister as anything from traditional beliefs. I do not want to be part of a gay-feminist thought police. I just want to be left alone.
15. 2011-05-19 23:06  
This Internet site is all U.S.
Asia is a continent not a single nationality. Asians are Pakistanis, Bengalis, Punjabis, large parts of Russia, too many nationalities to name. Only in the United States does Asian mean oriental Asians.. Very annoying very silly people America is a continent the United States OF America. It is OF America it is not America. America is a continent and subcontinent. Asia, Europe, America, Africa blah blah blah. Asia is not a single country...

Stop posting "us Asians" like they are some type of clone.
16. 2011-05-20 02:09  
I wonder... Would the Fundamentalist Christians actually believe otherwise, if the bible said that being gay is alright, or they will just reject the bible altogether, and find another means to justify their homophobia?

It is understandable that people fear the unknown, and to them, accepting the unknown could means trying to accept what they are not, as well as discounting what they've learn as fundamentalist christians, which further adds on a sense of guilt.

I think twisting the interpretation of the bible to suit what they want to believe and ignoring the pains that they are causing to others, is more vital in protecting themselves, than genuine concern for mankind. Or rather, they might have adopted a Calvinistic approach that only selected individuals are fated for heaven, so they have the right to create hell for others who doesn't endorse what they believe.
17. 2011-05-20 16:48  
Ultimately what is important is the soul's salvation. Jesus loves me! and you!

Getting human law to be on one side of the fence or the other, may seem so urgent right now.....but it is only for this very short life.

I am gay but would not want to influence others to "becoming gay".

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