A survey of over 2,000 gay men and lesbians conducted earlier this month in Taiwan has revealed that 29 percent said they had contemplated suicide, with 18 percent having attempted to take their own life.
The results which was released on Tuesday has since been picked up by various local media including Focus Taiwan and Taipei Times as well news agency AFP.
Wang Ping, secretary-general of GSRT, was quoted in Focus Taiwan as calling on the Ministry of Education to quickly do what "should have been done" – put gay issues on the curriculum – as stipulated in the Gender Equity Education Act.
The Act, passed in 2004, bans gender discrimination in schools in Taiwan and stipulates that school curriculums should include gender equality education.
According to the Taipei Times, the Ministry of Education was scheduled to introduce gender-equality education — including the subject of homosexuality — into the curriculum for elementary and junior-high schools on August 1 last year.
However, religious organisations fought its implementation by pressuring legislators and the ministry to drop the plan, the alliance which conducted the survey said, accusing the ministry of violating the Gender Equality Education Act (性別平等教育法) and of administrative delinquency.
In response, Yang Yu-hui (楊玉惠), a ministry official, said that gender equality education has already been incorporated into the curriculum of the nation’s Nine-Year Educational Program.
What the survey found (as reported by Focus Taiwan):
- 79 percent of respondents worry that their family would not accept their sexual orientation.
- 68 percent of homosexuals feel pressured by family expectations that they will enter into heterosexual marriages.
- more than 20 percent of the respondents also said they did not have any gay-friendly friends, classmates or teachers, nor had they been exposed to gay-friendly books, websites or media before the age of 18. This means that homosexual youngsters grow up feeling helpless and isolated, according to the alliance.
- 58 percent of the respondents said they had been subjected to some forms of violence, with verbal abuse being the most common (91 percent), followed by social exclusion (54 percent), physical violence (14 percent) and sexual abuse (3 percent).
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Reader's Comments
detail details details. What religious organisations? who exactly? Christian groups? but here on Fridae we've had people telling us that Christianity is about love and acceptance.
snort.
"What religious organisations? who exactly? Christian groups? but here on Fridae we've had people telling us that Christianity is about love and acceptance.
snort. "
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Wait a sec, before you snort another line, you give your location as Taiwan, probably reside there, and really suspect a Christian minority that comprises less than 4% of the population has that much political clout?
As an agnostic, it's always ironic to read knee jerk members from my community locked, loaded and ready to shoot off the moment they perceive religious hypocrisy. It looks pretty silly bemoaning their lack of "love and acceptance" while at the same time exhibiting nothing but scorn and rejection of their tenets. Granted, we're under no obligation to agree with them, but maybe if we afford them the benefit of the doubt before jumping to stereotypical conclusions, we might reap what we sow.
The only religious groups that actively go out of the way to suppress LGBT as part of their core tenets are Christians and Muslims. Taoism and Buddhism both have nothing to say on the subject, and as far as I know, Taoist and Buddhist groups are not active in lobbying the government to enact policies in line with their core tenets. Muslims are a tiny tiny minority here, thank dog, so I conclude that it must be Christians, who are indeed a very powerful minority here. I could indeed be wrong.
But it is shoddy reporting in the article not to be more specific on this issue. Also, as >7 said, some comparison with suicide rates in the general population would be useful. The suicide rate generally in Taiwan has recently increased quite dramatically.
Where do you get your 4% figure from?
"79 percent of respondents worry that their family would not accept their sexual orientation and 68 percent of homosexuals feel pressured by family expectations that they will enter into heterosexual marriages"
As I mentioned above these are conducive (but not limited to)Asian families.
"More than 20 percent of the respondents also said they did not have any gay-friendly friends, classmates or teachers, nor had they been exposed to gay-friendly books, websites or media before the age of 18. This means that homosexual youngsters grow up feeling helpless and isolated, according to the alliance."
I find the 2nd part of this comment about" lack of exposure to gay-friendly books,websites or media" hard to believe in the sophisticated IT world we live in today. Access to all the above is so simple with a computer or I-Phone or any other means of communication.Gin Gin's gay bookstore, which is a stones throw from Taiwan University,does a huge business with the LGBT community of all ages including students.There are countless LGBT websites & blogs that anyone with the touch of the keypad can open a world of LGBT information both informative as well as down & dirty sleazy.
"58 percent of the respondents said they had been subjected to some forms of violence, with verbal abuse being the most common (91 percent), followed by social exclusion (54 percent), physical violence (14 percent) and sexual abuse (3 percent)"
I would love to know on this point what the % breakdown is that comes from within the family vs.outside the family.I would once again bet $$ that it would lean towards within the family unit.
My heart goes out to all of those affected.. Each is significant..whatever the stats say
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