Gender News in Taiwan
2017.07.26
No space for 'pluralism' on equality committee

According to a newspaper report, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration is worried about “aggravating the anti-gay camp” and wants to “encourage reconciliation between pro and anti-gay camps.”

The report said the government plans to have the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health and Welfare take “diverse voices” into account when promoting issues like “gender equality” and “diverse families.”

The education ministry’s Gender Equity Education Committee is reportedly also mulling inviting anti-gay groups to take places on the committee.

One could think of some parallels. What if there were a committee responsible for promoting human rights, and, for fear of aggravating the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), military personnel and police who tortured members of the dangwai (黨外, “outside the party”) opposition during the Martial Law era were invited to join the committee and voice the opinions of the party-state apparatus. Would the DPP government think that was a good idea?

If there were a committee concerned with righting the injustices of the White Terror era and former agents who tormented innocent people were given committee seats so that the perpetrators and victims could “get a better understanding of the other side,” would that be right?

Pluralism is founded on mutual respect. If the DPP government accepts religious extremists who have been discriminating against those who are not heterosexually inclined, even taking the lead in oppressing, attacking, ostracizing and cursing gay people, on the committee — imagining that this is diversity — it would not just be wrong, but also demonstrate the hypocrisy and ignorance of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration.

This might be why the DPP’s governance is at an impasse. When there are progressive issues and values that it should uphold firmly, it instead allows the tail to wag the dog for the sake of possibly winning votes. It is trying to pander to people who do not deserve it.

This is as true of pension reforms for civil servants and teachers as it is of same-sex marriage legislation. Such incompetence and ignorance puts people with minority sexual orientations — and other people who need protection — in a weak position. This is a situation that the government has created intentionally for the sake of votes.

If a church or religion does not accept gay marriage, it can refuse to conduct same-sex weddings. That is religious freedom and cultural diversity, so while it might not be right, it cannot be criticized.

However, one of the principles of a democratic society is the separation of church and state, according to which no citizen should suffer oppression from any organization, religious or otherwise, just because they love somebody of the same sex and long to have an ordinary, loving family and enjoy the recognition and safeguards that the state affords to marital relations.

The state should stand up for minorities and protect them from prosecution rather than dance to the oppressors’ tune while calling it “pluralism.”

The DPP was founded by people who underwent all kinds of oppression during the Martial Law era. If the party cannot uphold humane values, but instead recreates medieval religious persecution, one must suspect that the joy of having full control of the Cabinet and legislature has led the DPP to start neglecting the values that it used to cherish and forget the oppression that its forebears suffered.

For a Taiwanese who has always believed in the DPP’s values, nothing could be more infuriating.

Marco Chu is a project manager at National Cheng Kung University’s Center for Humanities and Social Sciences.

Translated by Julian Clegg

[Taipei Times, 2017-07-26]

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