Where are the Gay Lawmakers? Taiwan's Disappointing LGBTQ+ Representation Record

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan is considered a liberal haven for LGBTQ+ people in Asia. But despite massive leaps forward in equality in recent years, gay and trans communities remain underrepresented in Taiwanese politics... with only a handful of openly queer elected politicians... none of which are men. Reece Ayers asks what's stopping gay people from getting into politics... or what's stopping them from getting elected.

Transcript

00:00There's barely a surface that isn't covered with soft toys or pride flags

00:04in the office of Sabrina Lim's humble team. Lim is a Taipei City Councillor

00:09and Chair of its Gender Equality Promotion Committee,

00:12but it's one of her staffers, Antonio Wu, who gives me the tour.

00:21Wu has been working for Lim as a policy assistant for about two years,

00:25and as a self-professed changemaker, he says he could see himself getting

00:29even deeper into politics in the future.

00:51If Wu did join the ranks of city councillor or higher,

00:55he'd be one of a tiny handful of openly gay politicians

00:58ever to hold office in Taiwan. There are currently just two

01:02out LGBTQ plus legislators, neither who came out voluntarily,

01:06and around half a dozen councillors, all of whom are women.

01:10Wu explains why he thinks there isn't a single openly gay man

01:14in Taiwanese politics today.

01:16I think that this person is not a traditional male man,

01:30then I think that this person is going to challenge

01:32everyone if they want to get the ticket to this person.

01:36Just down the hallway from Wu is Miao Boya's office,

01:40one of the few openly gay councillors in Taiwan. Queer rights and representation have long been a key

01:46issue for Miao, who has experienced first-hand the fallout of being out in politics.

01:52Just last year, a Taiwan People's Party legislator made fun of her in front of thousands of people.

01:57She explains what he said in Taiwanese.

02:08Since getting involved in politics almost a decade ago, Miao says many people,

02:13some she says who were well-meaning, have tried to persuade her she'd have more electoral success

02:18if she fit better into society's expectations of what a woman should look like.

02:23They say you have to make yourself look like a girl or use more maybe like a pink color in your campaign.

02:37But Miao refuses to dilute her identity.

02:41That is another example to dis-encourage the youth because I'm telling them if you want to

02:48be successful in politics, you have to hide yourself from the public.

02:52Miao has seen progress though. She says the locker room talk that was previously commonplace in politics

02:59has started fading away, since more women and queer people have found seats at the table.

03:05But even still, running as an openly gay candidate puts you at an immediate disadvantage.

03:10A recent survey by the Taiwan Equality Campaign gauges social acceptance of queer people

03:20across Taiwanese society. Around 77% of respondents said they would be accepting of gay classmates or

03:27colleagues. And around 72% said they'd accept a gay teacher or supervisor. But acceptance dropped to

03:35around 69% when asked about gay political representatives. That number drops even further

03:42when asked about their own children. Advocates point to holes in legal equality as helping foster prejudice

03:48in Taiwan, including a lack of anti-discrimination laws.

03:53Like for like commercial behavior or like for like online hate speech targeting like the whole community,

04:00not only targeting single person, cannot be regulated now. Of course we want our government to do more,

04:07like to actually to provide like adult education to let the general public to know more about LGBT.

04:16Taiwan has no shortage of heterosexual politicians who support queer causes, including current president

04:23Lai Qingde, who during his campaign promised to continue his predecessor Tsai Ing-wen's legacy of expanding rights for queer people.

04:31In the future, I will stand together and stand together on the same road on the same road.

04:41But for now at least, allies might not be enough. By getting involved in politics,

04:46gay people like Miao Boya and Antonio Wu are hoping to change public perceptions about their community

04:52and push for a legislature that better represents the demographics of the people it serves.

04:57I just want to say that when young people want to come in, I think it's a little bit like a

05:03roadblock, a little bit like a tower.

05:10Advocates say that more diversity in the legislature and across the political spectrum

05:15will make future generations of queer people feel safer and more inspired to get involved with politics

05:21and become advocates for communities that, as of right now, have little to no representation in government.

05:27Klein Wang, Ryan Wu and Rhys Ayers for Taiwan Plus.

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