Finding Formosa Episode 13: Temple of Love

TaiwanPlus News

In this episode, we delve into the interplay between traditional Taiwanese religions and modern LGBTQ+ identities. From the temples that embrace queer worshippers, like the Rabbit God Temple, to the pastors and advocates who fought for marriage equality, we explore how faith shapes and challenges the fight for acceptance.   Featuring personal stories, spiritual journeys, and candid interviews, this episode examines whether religion can be a bridge across generational divides, fostering understanding in a society still grappling with the balance between tradition and progress.

Transcript

00:00When I first found out that I was gay, I was actually very flustered.

00:17I thought I was a big sinner and that I was likely to go to hell.

00:24When I first found out that I was gay, it was probably when I was in college.

00:27I didn't realize that this belief was actually a rejection of homosexuality.

00:31After the same-sex marriage law was passed,

00:34the church still believes that homosexuality is a sin.

00:38Homosexuality is wrong.

00:40It will do everything it can to prevent homosexuality from being accepted by society,

00:44and even being recognized by the law.

00:47Every October since 2003,

00:50Taipei has played host to a pride parade

00:53which has grown to become the largest in East Asia

00:56and one of the largest in the world.

00:59This year, the event attracted almost 200,000 people from around the world

01:05to celebrate in the first Asian country to officially recognize marriage equality.

01:11From the outside, Taiwan might seem a picture of progressive values and inclusivity,

01:17but in national referenda just a year before the marriage equality bill,

01:22the Taiwanese people overwhelmingly voted against changing the law to permit same-sex unions

01:28in what activists described as a bitter blow.

01:32In the run-up to the referenda, the loudest opposition voices were religious

01:36and predominantly Christian,

01:38as motley faith groups organized enormous protest rallies

01:42and launched a nationwide anti-gay PR campaign in the media.

01:48Five years on, with gay marriage legalized and pride once again taking over the capital,

01:55many LGBT Taiwanese still feel the rift remains open and questions remain unanswered.

02:04How could Christians, less than 5% of Taiwan's population, mobilize so effectively?

02:11Was dark money swirling around their campaign?

02:15And how did they persuade the mainstream, culturally and historically unconcerned by homosexuality,

02:21to join a knives-out campaign against marriage equality?

02:27Welcome to Finding Formosa, Temple of Love.

02:34Finding Formosa

02:41The marriage equality movement started about 30 years ago.

02:46It was being promoted at the same time as the democratic movement in Taiwan.

02:49In 2012, members of the Legislative Yuan proposed the marriage equality bill.

02:56After Tsai Ing-wen was elected in May 2016,

02:59everyone thought it would pass.

03:02If you look back, you'll see that the時代力量, the KMT, and the KMT were all talking about it.

03:07Finally, in 2017, the Supreme Court of Taiwan announced

03:12that the government did not protect gay marriage.

03:16It was against constitutional equality.

03:18The government must establish a system to protect the right of gay couples to get married.

03:23But very soon, you will see that the opposition,

03:26especially the church-supporting side,

03:28has reached a crossroads of hundreds of thousands of people.

03:30During the marriage equality movement,

03:32the anti-gay church was the biggest conservative force.

03:37In 2013, conservative Christians formed the Coalition of Taiwan Religious Groups for Family Guardianship

03:45with the express purpose of opposing marriage equality.

03:49They organized rallies, brokered political alliances,

03:53and mobilized in large numbers across the country.

03:57This activity only intensified following the constitutional ruling in 2017.

04:03Under the auspices of the Family Guardian Coalition,

04:06vast crowds of largely elderly opposition activists

04:10took to the streets in protest,

04:12demanding a national referendum on the issue.

04:16The ferocity of feeling took many observers by surprise.

04:20The conservative Christian group introduced the Holy Bible

04:24to oppose gay marriage.

04:26This voice cannot be heard widely in Taiwan.

04:30Because whether it's orthodox Buddhism,

04:33or orthodox Taoism,

04:35or folk beliefs created through integration,

04:38they don't emphasize much on the so-called familial relationship.

04:43What they emphasize is the great love for the world.

04:47Christianity is very special because it is the only religion of God.

04:50So you would think that whatever God says is right.

04:54But other religions in Taiwan

04:56are more tolerant of diversity.

05:01Under this broad umbrella is Weiming Temple,

05:04dedicated to the Taoist rabbit god,

05:07defender and protector of homosexual love.

05:11Tucked away on the eighth floor of an otherwise nondescript office building,

05:16it was founded by Master Lu Weiming over ten years ago.

05:20Christianity believes that the love between people

05:25is to nurture the next generation.

05:28As long as it is away from the original setting,

05:33it is immoral.

05:36But in the essence of Taoism,

05:39we would think that

05:41whether a person is good or evil,

05:45whether a person is moral or not,

05:47is not based on appearance.

05:50It is based on whether your heart is pure or not,

05:53and whether you are able to build

05:56the care and love for society

05:59in your own life.

06:02Buddhists don't care about this issue.

06:05Buddhists don't ask you to follow a certain moral discipline.

06:09Because most religious groups in Taiwan

06:11are very decentralized and unorganized.

06:14They don't show a strong sense of morality

06:18to defend a certain way of life.

06:21They think that violating this discipline

06:23is a form of sin.

06:25To put it nicely,

06:26Taiwan's Christianity is very tolerant.

06:29Basically, if you need anything,

06:31you have a God to protect you.

06:35While most temples are not dedicated directly to the rabbit god,

06:39traditional religions' general lack of concern

06:42with individuals' private lives is pervasive.

06:47As a result,

06:48the fundamentally Christian opposition's ideas

06:51were ill-suited to Taiwan's cultural mores.

06:55Christians are very conservative.

06:57In the beginning,

06:58they would speak many religious languages.

07:00For example,

07:01they would say,

07:02homosexuality leads to hell.

07:03This would make people feel very uneasy.

07:05In fact, if you are not a Christian,

07:07you would feel that

07:08you are using your religious beliefs

07:10to force me to accept a certain idea.

07:13So they would start to change their views.

07:16The family values of these conservative Christian groups

07:19are often heard in the West as family values.

07:23They would become localized in Taiwan

07:25and become the family values of Confucian culture

07:29that they imagined.

07:31But if there is something called Confucian culture,

07:34I don't think it is the core of the family system

07:37to defend homosexuality.

07:38It never is.

07:39If you read a lot of fiction

07:42from the Ming-Qing period,

07:44for men to have sex with other men

07:46or women to have sex with other women,

07:48actually it was considered

07:50unexceptional.

07:51Historically,

07:52there have been many sexual intercourse

07:54between men and women.

07:55Even in the ancient times,

07:56there were sexual intercourse between men and women.

07:57And these sexual intercourse were recorded.

07:58These sexual intercourse

07:59were not considered as moral condemnation.

08:01So later on,

08:02they would talk about it in their books.

08:04For example,

08:05the Chinese worshiped their ancestors.

08:06They would say,

08:07if you don't have homosexuality,

08:08you can't have children.

08:09You can't have sex with other people.

08:11They even made some videos

08:14about homosexuality.

08:17Most of the people

08:19who don't know about homosexuality

08:21put homosexuality and sexual liberation together.

08:24They put homosexuality and mental illness together.

08:28They even used what we call

08:29the slide theory.

08:31That is,

08:32if homosexuality can be married,

08:33the family will be disintegrated.

08:36If homosexuality can be married,

08:38the family's ethics and ethics,

08:42and how to call parents,

08:44how to call grandparents,

08:46the whole society may be disintegrated.

08:49If we look back

08:51at their arguments at that time,

08:52there were many who

08:54advocated the same thing

08:56as conservative Christian groups

08:58in the Western world.

09:01I think the key is

09:03many churches in Taiwan

09:04hope for the growth of the church

09:07and the growth of the number of people.

09:09So they will train

09:12with right-wing and left-wing groups

09:14in the United States.

09:17No matter what the method is,

09:19they will accept it as it is.

09:21So I think in the process of accepting it as it is,

09:24whether it's the way of increasing the number of people

09:26or their ideas,

09:28they will also accept it as it is.

09:30I think especially

09:31they have learned one thing,

09:33which is to spread fear.

09:35People are afraid of that fear.

09:37But it's true that this fear

09:39also manipulates many people who don't understand

09:41to misunderstand homosexuality,

09:43to misunderstand the true value

09:45of marriage equality.

09:47Rumor has it that

09:48conservative right-wing groups abroad,

09:50Christian conservative right-wing groups,

09:52have invested a lot of money,

09:55especially Catholicism and Christianity.

09:58Catholicism and Christianity

09:59have a 5% to 6% population in Taiwan,

10:01which is very few.

10:03But because of the power of Catholicism,

10:05they have played a very strong mobilization ability.

10:08This mobilization ability

10:09is not only to call the opposition to take to the streets,

10:12but they also go to the offices of

10:14legislators all over the place

10:16to constantly lobby.

10:17It also made many legislators

10:19who originally supported the legislators

10:21later became afraid to support them.

10:22The Catholic world has caught

10:24people who don't understand themselves

10:26and people who are against human nature.

10:29And then it was very successful

10:31during that period of the referendum

10:33to make the public

10:35take a negative attitude

10:37towards homosexual marriage

10:39and equal rights.

10:41The loss was felt as a cutting blow

10:43by many in the marriage equality movement,

10:46but actually had little material impact

10:48on the progress of legal reform.

10:51In spite of the result,

10:52the government was bound by law

10:54to respect the court's ruling

10:56and legalized same-sex unions in 2019

11:00with wording that attempted to honor

11:02both the court judgment and referendum result.

11:05So the law was passed.

11:07No slope has been slipped down

11:10and the sky has yet to fall.

11:12But the social rifts opened by a vicious debate

11:16have left deep marks.

11:18In the process of Taiwan's struggle for homosexual marriage,

11:21it actually caused a big split in Taiwanese society

11:25and some hurt.

11:27The Catholic world also found

11:29that this process caused many people to be hurt.

11:33It even made the mainstream society in Taiwan

11:35have a lot of negative views of Christianity.

11:38So the Catholic world also found

11:40that their approach was very wrong.

11:44So on the surface,

11:45it looks like there are some changes,

11:47becoming more friendly,

11:49and the way of debating is also better.

11:53But in private,

11:54not much has changed.

11:56This is where those who work in the gap

11:59between religion and tolerance

12:01feel they have a role to play.

12:03Many people come to us

12:05and they can feel this tolerance.

12:07So they can feel that they have returned home.

12:12When they feel that this home is great,

12:14very beautiful,

12:16we encourage everyone to take action.

12:19We actually participate in the whole

12:21gay marriage movement.

12:23We work with some gay groups

12:25or some human rights groups.

12:28Whether it's a press conference

12:30or a seminar,

12:33we probably gather every year

12:35to participate in the gay parade.

12:37The main goal is to let the public,

12:40especially the communities of gay and bisexual people,

12:42know that God loves gay people.

12:45I was very impressed

12:46when we were doing the gay parade.

12:49When we said,

12:50God loves you,

12:52the way you like,

12:53the way you look,

12:55and there was a mother holding a child,

12:57and she told us,

12:58you are the church,

12:59you have to work hard.

13:01At that time, I felt

13:02we have to keep moving

13:05and keep taking action.

13:07Of course, in ancient times,

13:09the main priests of Taoism

13:11were often the most turbulent

13:14and the most dangerous.

13:16The Taoists were often the people

13:18who stood out the most.

13:20When the religion

13:22was very friendly to gay people,

13:25Wen Mingtang stood out.

13:27We hope to let people know

13:29that in the religious world,

13:31we can also tolerate gay people

13:33because they are part of nature.

13:36Of course, we also hope that

13:37in the community of gay people,

13:39we hope that Wen Mingtang

13:41is like another home for gay friends.

13:43And this place is

13:44a big shelter for them.

13:49My other half is also a disciple.

13:52Then he passed away.

13:57And Tang Li has been

14:00a great companion to me

14:02because he accompanied me

14:04through a very sad time.

14:07It has changed a lot

14:11in my life.

14:16I think religion should

14:18let people,

14:20regardless of their identity

14:22or sexual orientation,

14:24feel a sense of security

14:26and a sense of security in their faith.

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