Asia
WorldPride 2025 in Taiwan cancelled
“Taiwan deeply regrets that InterPride, due to political considerations, has unilaterally rejected the mutually agreed upon consensus”
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2022/08/Taipei-Pride-2014.jpg)
TAIPEI, Taiwan – Taiwanese organizers of the WorldPride 2025 Taiwan will not hold the event after they said InterPride, a global LGBTQ rights group, refused to let the Taiwanese organizers use the island nation’s name in the event title.
WorldPride Taiwan 2025 was initially slated to be hosted by the southern city of Kaohsiung after the Taiwan Preparation Committee, consisting of representatives from Kaohsiung Pride and Taiwan Pride, had their bid accepted by InterPride, a global LGBTQ rights group.
A-Ku (阿古), co-chairman of the local WorldPride Taiwan 2025 organizing committee told media outlets that InterPride had recently “suddenly” asked them to change the name of the event to “Kaohsiung,” removing the word “Taiwan.”
“After careful evaluation, it is believed that if the event continues, it may harm the interests of Taiwan and the Taiwan gay community. Therefore, it is decided to terminate the project before signing the contract,” said the co-chair in a statement.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) helped organize a tripartite meeting with InterPride and Kaohsiung Pride on Nov. 16, 2021 during which the three parties agreed upon the name Taiwan, A-Ku told Focus Taiwan/CNA News English.
Despite this, InterPride subsequently announced in a letter dated July 26 that, based on a vote by the directors and supervisors, the event must be named either “WorldPride Kaohsiung” or “Kaohsiung WorldPride,” A-Ku said.
He also noted that InterPride’s assertion that it had suggested using the name “WorldPride Kaohsiung, Taiwan” was “completely inconsistent with the facts.”
A-Ku added that the name “WorldPride Taiwan 2025” had been used throughout the entire bidding process from the beginning of 2021, including on application forms, plans, and other relevant documents.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry released a statement noting that the event would have been the first WorldPride event to be held in East Asia.
“Taiwan deeply regrets that InterPride, due to political considerations, has unilaterally rejected the mutually agreed upon consensus and broken a relationship of cooperation and trust, leading to this outcome,” the statement said adding;
“Not only does the decision disrespect Taiwan’s rights and diligent efforts, it also harms Asia’s vast LGBTIQ+ community and runs counter to the progressive principles espoused by InterPride.”
Taiwan had legalized same-sex marriage in 2019.
“On May 17th, 2019 in Taiwan, Love Won,” tweeted President Tsai Ing-wen at the time. “We took a big step towards true equality, and made Taiwan a better country.”
The island nation’s recognition of same-sex marriage is a first for Asia, and Taiwan is proud of its reputation as a central bastion of LGBTQ rights and liberalism in Asia.
Hadi Damien and Linda DeMarco, the co-presidents of the InterPride board of directors, disputed the committee’s claims during an interview with the Los Angeles Blade on Monday.
Damien said an Oct 26, 2021, email thread with the committee confirms “the bidding committee is going to use the title ‘WorldPride Taiwan 2025 candidate'” only during the bidding process. Damien said this decision was made “not because InterPride wants to cozy up to any government, not because InterPride does not respect, honor and acknowledge the right to self-determination of people in general.”
“It’s simply because the tradition of naming WorldPride is based on the city itself,” said Damien, noting WorldPride Copenhagen 2021 did not include Denmark in its name.
Damien also told the Blade there were concerns about the committee’s commitment to abide by previous agreements it made with InterPride and “precise financial statements.”
The committee announced its decision to cancel World Pride shortly after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)’s visit to Taiwan that prompted sharp criticism from the Chinese government, which considers the island a part of China.
DeMarco told the Blade that geopolitics did not factor into the negotiations between InterPride and the committee.
“In all our conversations, it was never even brought up, the geopolitical allegations,” said DeMarco. “We were just all concentrating on making sure that we had a human rights conference there, that they had the finances to put on such an event. When we were negotiating with their team, it was all about our community and the WorldPride message that we would get in that area for equality and rights.”
“Its unfortunate they brought it to this level,” added DeMarco. “We were very clear that we weren’t bringing it to that level.”
WorldPride 2025 Taiwan’s full statement:
Statement on Project Termination of Hosting WorldPride Taiwan 2025
The WorldPride 2025 Taiwan Preparation Committee would like to express our sincere gratitude for all the generous support we have received since winning the bid to host WorldPride 2025 in Taiwan. After months of preparation and collaboration with various government departments and corporate enterprises, it is a great pity to announce that the project of WorldPride Taiwan 2025 has been terminated.
When discussing and negotiating the event contract’s terms and conditions, the WorldPride 2025 Taiwan Preparation Committee (consisting of Taiwan Pride and Kaohsiung Pride) was unable to reach a consensus with InterPride, the event licensor. There were major discrepancies between our stances on the event’s naming, understandings of Taiwan’s culture, and expectations of what a WorldPride event should look like.
In the back-and-forth discussions, InterPride repetitively raised their concerns and doubts about whether Taiwan has the capacity, economic and otherwise, to host an international event like WorldPride. This is despite our team consisting of highly competent Pride organizers who have successfully organized some of the largest Pride events in Asia. Although we have presented past data and relevant statistics to prove our track record, we were still unable to convince InterPride. However hard we have tried to cooperate, our efforts did not result in an equal and trusting working partnership with the event licensor.
The final straw that led the negotiation to a deadlock was the abrupt notice from InterPride, requiring the name of the event to change from “WorldPride Taiwan 2025” to “WorldPride Kaohsiung 2025”. This is despite the fact that the name “WorldPride Taiwan 2025” was used throughout the entire bidding process: From the bid application and the bid proposal evaluation to the voting process and the winner announcement back in 2021.
We had made it clear to InterPride that there are some significant reasons why we insist on using the name “WorldPride Taiwan 2025”. First, the name “Taiwan Pride” is of symbolic significance to the Taiwanese LGBTIQ+ community as it has been used for Taiwan’s first and still ongoing Pride parade since the first edition in 2003. It was not named after the city but the nation as a whole. Second, WorldPride Taiwan 2025 was planned to connect several Pride events and activities across Taiwan, with many cities, in addition to Kaohsiung, participating.
After the winner announcement, upon reading InterPride’s congratulatory letter which mistakenly named Taiwan as a region instead of a country, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) helped organize a tripartite meeting with InterPride and KH Pride on November 16 2021. In the meeting, the three parties (MOFA, InterPride, KH Pride) agreed on using “WorldPride Taiwan 2025” as the name for all the sequential events and activities. However, during the recent contract negotiation, InterPride suddenly made it a requirement that WorldPride 2025 can only be named after the host city rather than the country (“WorldPride Kaohsiung 2025” instead of “WorldPride Taiwan 2025”). This unexpected requirement essentially reneges on the previously made agreement.
In the face of many uncertainties such as InterPride’s inconsistent attitude toward the event naming and doubts about our team and the Taiwan market, we have to make the painful decision to terminate the project of hosting WorldPride 2025 in order to strive for the best interest of the LGBTIQ+ community in Taiwan. The WorldPride 2025 Preparation Committee will also resign to take responsibility for failing to host the event.
We would like to express our most profound appreciation to everyone who has supported us. We are especially grateful for the continuous assistance and resources provided by Taiwan’s Presidential Office and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
We promise that the termination of hosting WorldPride Taiwan 2025 will not undermine our motivation to serve the LGBTIQ+ community. We will continue to promote Taiwan’s LGBTIQ+ culture worldwide.
The WorldPride 2025 Taiwan Preparation Committee
2022/08/12
InterPride Board of Director’s full statement:
Today, InterPride was surprised to learn about the decision of KH Pride to walk away from negotiations to host WorldPride 2025.
We were confident a compromise could have been reached with respect to the long-standing WorldPride tradition of using the host city name. We suggested using the name “WorldPride Kaohsiung, Taiwan.”
We were also working with KH Pride to ensure they would deliver the event they promised to our members, who voted for their bid.
While we are disappointed, InterPride respects and acknowledges KH Pride’s decision.
InterPride Board of Directors
Michael K. Lavers contributed to this story.
Asia
Bangladesh political turmoil has forced LGBTQ people into hiding
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned, fled the country on Monday
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2024/08/LGBTQ_activists_in_anti-government_protests_in_Bangladesh_insert_courtesy_Saraban_Tahura.jpg)
The political turmoil in Bangladesh that led to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s resignation and subsequent decision to flee the country on Monday has left the LGBTQ community under unprecedented threat.
The Washington Blade this week heard harrowing accounts of targeted violence and intimidation that has forced many LGBTQ Bangladeshis to go into hiding. Factions seeking to exploit the power vacuum in the wake of Hasina’s resignation have made this situation worse.
Tushar Kanti Baidya, program director of Inclusive Bangladesh, a local NGO and transgender-led LGBTQ youth organization, said a more sinister development has overshadowed the ongoing protests against Hasina’s job quota policies.
He noted the recent rise of right-wing political parties, which have spearheaded anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ movements, poses an even greater threat to the community. Badiya fears the lives of local trans activists are now in grave danger as these groups move to align themselves with the newly formed interim government. This alliance, he says, not only encourages those who wish to silence them but also creates an environment where hate and violence could escalate unchecked.
“The quota that has been reserved for disability and transgender people are only for those who are physically disabled and intersex people,” said Baidya. “In Bangladesh, by the common people, transgender refers to intersex people. Some of the (leaders) of the protesters deny the existence of transformation from male to female or vice versa and (continue their) opposition to include transgenders into the quota but intersex people.”
Baidya said trans activists had initially raised the issue of their inclusion in the job quota system nearly two years ago, well before the current crisis emerged. The trans and LGBTQ communities, however, chose not to participate in the quota demand. Baidya said fear drove this decision, noting anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans rhetoric from some quota reform movement leaders grew more intense.
While some trans people have supported the broader student movement that demanded Hasina’s resignation, they have been cautious about specifically advocating for the quota reserved for them because they were wary of the potential backlash. Baidya emphasized this reluctance reflects the severe risks and hostility the community faces in this fraught political climate.
Baidya told the Blade that despite Hasina’s government’s problematic human rights record and her autocratic regime, it is noteworthy that LGBTQ and other minority groups felt relatively safe when she was in office and were able to conduct their advocacy work with minimal government interference. The trans community, in particular, saw significant benefits that included increased social support, greater acceptance in mainstream jobs, and even successful bids for local government positions.
Baidya pointed out Inclusive Bangladesh Executive Director Sanjiboni Sudha, and Saraban Tahura, the group’s project coordinator, are among those who anti-trans activists publicly targeted, publishing their photos and sharing their personal information.
This targeted harassment, according to Baidya, underscores the dangerous shift in the current political environment, where the progress made under the previous government is now at risk.
“Currently, we are processing some of our staff’s asylum process and also trying to facilitate to relocate them into a safe place or out of the country and also sending advisories and security suggestions to the community members,” Baidya told the Blade
US State Department spokesperson condemns ‘all recent acts of violence’
Hasina fled Bangladesh after protesters stormed her official residence on Monday.
She has been in India, where she met with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
The political unrest — and anti-government protests that have taken place across Bangladesh in recent weeks —has left upwards of 300 people dead and many others injured. At least 94 people were killed on Sunday, the deadliest day since the protests began.
Students in Bangladesh began demonstrating against the government, demanding reforms to the civil service quota system. Protests argue loyalists of Hasina’s ruling party, the Awami League, disproportionately benefited from the existing quotas.
“We condemn all recent acts of violence in Bangladesh,” said State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Wednesday during his daily press briefing in Washington. “We support the freedom of peaceful assembly.”
“We condemn violence against those who are exercising their peaceful right to assembly. And we condemn violence on behalf of any protester who has turned their peaceful exercises simply into an excuse for violence,” he added. “We condemn violence in all cases.”
Tahura, a trans activist in Bangladesh, spoke exclusively with the Blade.
She said the situation of the LGBTQ community since Hasina’s resignation is out of control.
Saraban told the Blade she is now safe after she sought refuge in a shelter away from her home. Saraban said the escalating violence and targeted harassment made it imperative for her to find a secure location to avoid the growing threats.
“This is very difficult for us,” said Saraban. “We are facing threats from anti-LGBTQ groups in Bangladesh. They are telling the LGBTQ community that your story ends now. They are telling us that there is no place for LGBTQ people in Bangladesh. They only want to only recognize (the) hijra community. We are not hijra, but transgenders, so our situation is really bad.”
Hijra or kinner on the Indian subcontinent are intersex or eunuch people. The hijra community has a distinctive social structure, traditions, and rituals.
Saraban told the Blade the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and Jamaat-e-Islami (Jamaat) are related and often align with each other.
She said she went into hiding under the previous government. Jamaat, which is anti-LGBTQ, has resurfaced in the wake of Hasina’s resignation and is now threatening Saraban and other LGBTQ activists.
“It is a dangerous situation for the LGBTQ community, mostly, three activists are targeted in our country,” said Saraban. “Other than me, Ho Chi Minh Islam, and Sanjiboni Shudha, are the three most popular transgender activists in Bangladesh.”
“We are in very grave risk,” added Saraban.
Saraban said she and other activists are looking to escape the country for their own safety. She told the Blade that although she does not want to leave Bangladesh, the situation is not safe for her or the community.
Ankush Kumar is a reporter who has covered many stories for Washington and Los Angeles Blades from Iran, India, and Singapore. He recently reported for the Daily Beast. He can be reached at [email protected]. He is on X at @mohitkopinion.
Asia
Thailand’s Parliament passes same-sex marriage law
Once passed by the Senate, Thailand will be 1st southeast Asian nation with same-sex marriage 36 countries have legalized same-sex marriage
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2024/03/Thailand-moves-closer-to-legalising-same-sex-unions-as-parliament-passes-landmark-bill.jpg)
By Rob Salerno | BANGKOK, Thailand – By an overwhelming majority, the lower house of the Thai parliament passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage and adoption early morning on Wed, March 27, with 399 voting in favor and only 10 against. The move brings the nation one step closer to becoming the first state in southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
The bill now heads to the senate, which is largely composed of appointees of the former military junta that ruled the country until 2017. But because of the overwhelming majority in the lower house, it is unlikely to block the bill. Under the constitution, the senate must finish consideration of the bill within 60 days. If the bill is agreed to, then it will be sent to the king for royal assent before becoming law.
It is believed the law will be in effect before the end of 2024.
The draft law approved by parliament defines marriage as a partnership of two people, without reference to gendered terms like “male,” “female,” “husband,” or “wife,” however parliament decided to retain using the terms “fathers and mothers” instead of “parents” as had been recommended by the committee studying the bill.
It ensures that same-sex married couples will have access to all the rights of married heterosexual couples, including the right to adoption, equal tax treatment, inheritance, and medical visitation.
“I feel that equality has happened today. It’s a historic day for the Thai parliament that stands to fight for the rights of LGBTQI+,” Tunyawaj Kamolwongwat, a gay MP from the opposition Move Forward party told the BBC.
Response to the news was rapturous on social media.
Some Thai Twitter users credited the growing acceptance of same-sex marriage in the country to the popularity of the romantic-comedy series GAP, based on the series of novels by Chao Planoy, about a lesbian couple named Freen and Becky.
“Congratulations #FreenBecky for being part of the work to legalize marriage equality. You did it. To other activists, allies in Thailand. Congratulations this is your win too,” one user wrote. “I’m crying ..this made me emotional.”
Thailand has developed a reputation of tolerance for LGBTQ people in southeast Asia, although its laws have not kept up with rights advances made in some other parts of the world. But that’s changing under Thailand’s new government. In addition to marriage equality, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin recently directed his cabinet to draft a gender recognition bill, announced a plan to provide free HIV medications in an effort to eliminate HIV transmission in the country, and announced plans to liberalize surrogacy laws.
The Thai government has also become eager to promote Thailand as an LGBTQ+ tourist destination, and is bidding to host World Pride 2028.
Across Asia, only Taiwan and Nepal currently allow same-sex marriage, although courts are considering it in Japan, and the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal ordered the government to create some form of civil union for same-sex couples last year. Thirty-six countries have legalized same-sex marriage worldwide.
Related:
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![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/02/Rob-Salerno-Headshot-552x600.jpg)
Rob Salerno is a writer and journalist based in Los Angeles, California, and Toronto, Canada.
Asia
Japan’s high court rules restroom restrictions for trans illegal
The ruling is significant as it’s the first time Japan’s high court has ruled on a case regarding LGBTQ employees in the workplace
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/07/Japanese-supreme-court-chambers.jpg)
HAYABUSACHO-CHIYODA, Japan – In an unanimous decision Tuesday, Japan’s highest court ruled that workplace bathroom restrictions on a transgender female government worker was illegal reversing a lower court’s decision.
The landmark Supreme Court ruling was in the case of a trans female worker at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. In court documents, the plaintiff in her fifties who works at the economy ministry sued the government filed a suit in 2015 after she was banned by her government office from using female bathrooms on the floor in the ministry where her office was located and instead was directed to use bathrooms two floors above or below her office floor.
According to court filings by her attorney Toshimasa Yamashita, the ministry had adopted the policy “in the belief that there was a smaller chance her female colleagues would feel uncomfortable if she used a bathroom that her immediate co-workers would not be using.”
Japan’s Public Broadcasting outlet NHK reported that the Supreme Court’s presiding judge Yukihiko Imasaki said that the National Personnel Authority’s decision to uphold the ministry’s policy of restricting the plaintiff’s bathroom usage gave “excessive consideration” to her co-workers and as a result “unfairly neglected the plaintiff’s disadvantage.”
“(The government decision) significantly lacks validity,” Imasaki said. “Therefore, it is illegal, since it is beyond their discretion and is an abuse of their power.”
The ruling is significant as it’s the first time Japan’s high court has ruled on a case regarding LGBTQ employees in the workplace which according to the plaintiff’s attorney will have wide-ranging impact across Japanese society affecting how companies and government ministries handle similar cases regarding transgender employees in the future.
The plaintiff herself told reporters: “This is a Supreme Court ruling for people who are transgender or experience gender dysphoria, but the judges’ opinions could also apply in other human rights issues where discrimination still happens.”
The Associated Press noted: “The decision comes at a time of increased awareness and support for the rights of LGBTQ+ people. Activists have increased their efforts to achieve an anti-discrimination law since a former aide to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said in February that he wouldn’t want to live next to LGBTQ+ people and that citizens would flee Japan if same-sex marriage were allowed.”
In a news conference after the ruling was issued, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters the government will consider what to do, given that its argument has been rejected.
“We will do our best to create a society where diversity and human rights are respected, and people of all identities, including members of sexual minorities and the majority, can enjoy full lives,” Matsuno said.
Asia
Bisexual LGBTQ+ YouTuber challenges fellow South Koreans
“It’s gonna take a long time for Korea to change- I’ll just do whatever I can, but I can’t be overwhelmed or too stressed”
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/07/Kelsey_the_Korean_insert_1_via_Instagram-1.jpg)
SEOUL, Republic of Korea – Kelsey the Korean is a bisexual YouTuber best known for her refreshing directness and crazy life stories. Made obvious by her username, she is a Korean named Kelsey making videos in English about South Korea, LGBTQ issues, sex, mental health, her family feuds and more, with the aim of fostering a no-bullshit insight into South Korean society.
You’d never guess by watching Kelsey’s videos about her colorful sex life or uncensored stories about her over-bearing “tiger mom,” but Kelsey is actually an introvert.
“A lot of people assume that I’m extraverted but it’s like, uhh … I’m not. In reality it’s one of the best jobs [YouTuber] for an introvert ‘cause you don’t have any co-workers basically, and you can just talk to a camera,” she said. “People sort of get scared when they meet me in person — or startled — because they’re like, “You’re so quiet, are you mad?’”
As an open bisexual woman in a conservative country, Kelsey is brave.
“It’s harder than North America in general, it depends on which district obviously [of America] because I’ve heard even in America there are some places where it’s as conservative as Korea, so I don’t want to make it like a dichotomy where the West is so ‘open’ and Korea is ‘not,’” she said. “In Korea it’s definitely harder to find people in my generation [25- to 30-years old] that are open — which is a little bit shocking to me — but it’s easier in other ways because Korean people are not very outspoken.”
A 2021 survey showed that 26.5 percent of South Koreans would accept an LGBTQ neighbor, 13.8 percent would accept an LGBTQ co-worker and 5.3 percent would accept an LGBTQ best friend.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/07/Kelsey_the_Korean_insert_3_via_Instagram-1-600x375.jpg)
Kelsey is not a complete stranger to anti-LGBTQ hate.
In one of her YouTube videos she visited gay Pride in Seoul which was met with homophobic protestors.
“Last year was really shocking because there were so many Christian protestors who were really mad, and the shocking thing was they even brought their children, who were like 5 or 7 and made them hold ‘gay people have AIDS’ [signs],” she said.
Seoul’s Queer Culture Festival (gay Pride) hit a wall this year when it was denied a permit by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, despite holding the festival in Seoul Plaza for many years. The Seoul Metropolitan Government’s reasoning was that another group had requested access to Seoul Plaza on July 1 so the government gave the other — a Christian youth concert — priority. Despite this setback, Seoul’s Queer Culture Festival organizers didn’t let this stop them celebrating pride at an alternative space.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/07/Kelsey_the_Korean_insert_2_via_Instagram-1-600x375.jpg)
South Korea has rapidly progressed since the Korean War and society is more open-minded and accepting but society is still not open enough to accept openly LGBTQ people. How does Kelsey feel about the future of LGBTQ rights in Korea?
“Oh God, I’ve only been following gay rights in Korea for five years,” she said. “It’s not good because since the Yoon administration, they’re making it harder definitely.”
Yoon Suk-Yeol is the current politically conservative president of South Korea.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/07/Kelsey_the_Korean_insert_4_via_Instagram-1-600x375.jpg)
“As for the future of LGBTQ rights in Korea, I don’t know. It could go either way in my opinion. Even in the youth I don’t see that much change, but our youth percentage is declining, so there’s gonna be more boomers as time goes on and they’re not gonna be open. They’re gonna be really boomer,” she said.
Although Kelsey wants more LGBTQ acceptance in Korea, education on transgender identity in a Vancouver school was a step too far for her.
“With LGBTQ rights, Korea is very conservative but I was really taken aback by how far the west seems to have taken it because when I was in Vancouver six months ago I became friends with this 8-year-old boy and he was in elementary school. He said that in Vancouver it was very left politically and in his public elementary school during sex-ed they taught his class that there [are] infinite genders. Then a trans person came in and just talked about his life trauma — I guess — and how they wanted to be called ‘they.’” she said. “I [was] so shocked to hear that because, personally — maybe I’ll change my mind and be so shocked at how conservative I am reading back to this article in 10 years — but right now that is too far for me. I don’t want it to be in public education [that] you can be trans or you can be gay when you’re 8- [years old].”
Kelsey wants to uplift other LGBTQ viewers who watch her YouTube channel. Her words of advice?
“First of all be patient because people like me who are Gen-Z and multicultural pick the best country they’ve been in — in regards to how it benefits them — and they’re like ‘Why isn’t my country, right now, not fitting that standard?’” she said.
Kelsey calls herself a multicultural Korean because she lived in Australia and Canada.
“It’s gonna take a long time for Korea to change,” she said. “The conclusion I came to is that I’ll just do whatever I can, but I can’t be overwhelmed or too stressed.”
Asia
Second Japanese court rules gay marriage ban is unconstitutional
The judge said more people have become supportive of recognizing same-sex marriage, & the reasoning behind excluding it is becoming “shaky”
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/05/Nagoya-court-screenshot.jpg)
NAGOYA, Aichi Prefecture, Japan – In a ruling issued Tuesday, local time, the Nagoya District Court became the second major higher court in the country to rule that the lack of legal recognition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
Presiding Judge Osamu Nishimura said more people have become supportive of recognizing same-sex marriage, and the reasoning behind excluding same-sex couples from the legal marriage system is becoming “shaky,” resulting in a situation that is “difficult to ignore,” the Kyodo News agency reported.
Kyodo also noted the court pointed out that the public remains divided over the issue, and it was only in 2015 that a system to issue certificates recognizing same-sex couples as being in “relationships equivalent to marriage” was introduced by local governments in Japan for the first time.
In March of 2021 the Sapporo District Court issued its ruling that the local in Sapporo government’s actions violated two provisions of the Japanese Constitution: Article 14 that ensures the right to equal treatment and Article 24, which does not expressly deny the right of marriage to same-sex couples.
In Tuesday’s ruling, Judge Osamu Nishimura echoed the Sapporo decision saying that a failure to recognize same-sex marriage violates Article 14 of the Constitution, which stipulates that all people are equal, and Article 24, which stipulates that “laws shall be enacted from the standpoint of individual dignity and the essential equality of the sexes.”
The two rulings are at odds with opinions issued by other high courts across Japan. Public Media Broadcaster NHK reported that in June 2022, the Osaka District Court ruled that the ban does not violate the Constitution. The judge said Article 24 stipulates that marriage shall be based on the mutual consent of parties from both sexes.
The Tokyo District Court also ruled the ban constitutional in November that year. At the same time, the judge said not providing legal protections for same-sex families represents an “unconstitutional state.”
With this second ruling, pressure is building on the Japanese Diet (Parliament) to legalize same-sex unions.
The case, brought by two male residents in a relationship from Aichi Prefecture, were represented by attorney Yoko Mizushima who told reporters: “This ruling has rescued us from the hurt of last year’s ruling that said there was nothing wrong with the ban, and the hurt of what the government keeps saying,” referring to the June 2022, Osaka District Court ruling last year that the ban was not unconstitutional.
Asia
Uzbek authorities harass activist at European development bank meeting
Authorities confiscated Nezir Sinani’s Pride tote bags
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/05/Nezir_Sinani_in_Samarkand_Uzbekistan_insert_courtesy_Caspar_Veldkamp_via_Twitter.jpg)
SAMARKAND, Uzbekistan — Uzbek authorities last week harassed an LGBTQ+ and intersex rights activist while he was attending a European Bank for Reconstruction and Development meeting that took place in the Central Asian country.
Nezir Sinani, who is from Kosovo, is the co-director of Re-course, which is based in the Netherlands.
He said Uzbek police on May 17 “started harassing and intimidating me, stopping me from entering the meeting venue (in Samarkand) and confiscating meeting materials.”
“This included the Uzbek police calling the (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development) security officer asking for my info details,” said Sinani in a tweet.
May 17 was the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, which marks the World Health Organization’s declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder in 1990. Uzbekistan is among the more than 60 countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized.
Caspar Veldkamp, an EBRD board member from the Netherlands, on May 17 posted a picture of him with Sinani and two other activists holding Pride tote bags.
Sinani once he left Uzbekistan sent the Washington Blade a series of pictures that show security officials interrogating him outside the meeting.
He is holding Pride-themed tote bags in two of the pictures. Sinani said he and the other activists used them “to keep meeting files to distribute to EBRD counterparts we met.”
“Tote bags were not forbidden in the venue, but were still confiscated only because they were Pride-themed,” he told the Blade.
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/05/20230517_Uzbek_authorities_confiscate_Nezir_Sitanis_Pride_flag_and_other_LGBTQ-specific_items_insert_in_Samarkand_Uzbekistan_insert_courtesy_Nezir_Sitani.jpg)
Veldkamp in an email to the Blade said he has “been in touch with” Sinani and “shared his information with the EBRD’s office of the secretary general, which gathers information regarding several incidents, including a similar one regarding my own staff.”
“They will follow up with the Uzbek authorities,” said Veldkamp.
Veldkamp told the Blade that Uzbek authorities have yet to respond.
The EBRD’s 32nd annual Meeting and Business Forum took place in Samarkand from May 16-19.
The State Department’s 2022 human rights report notes “at least four cases” of authorities forcing men to undergo so-called anal exams between 2017-2020. Anvar Latipov, a gay man from Uzbekistan who the U.S. has granted asylum, last month told the Blade during an exclusive interview in D.C. that a group of vigilantes broadcast online a video of a man they forced to sit on a bottle.
‘Criminalization and discrimination is completely unacceptable’
The State Department report cites other activists who said “members of the LGBTQI+ community in Tashkent (the Uzbek capital) were being harassed by both local authorities and private citizens and were on ‘red alert,’ and were seeking to avoid going out in public” after a group of men attacked blogger Miraziz Bazarov in 2022. Latipov told the Blade that transgender Uzbeks and people with HIV/AIDS face additional discrimination and persecution.
The Uzbek government previously kicked the EBRD kicked out of Uzbekistan after it criticized the country’s human rights record. Latipov noted to the Blade the EBRD now has $2.4 billion in 69 active projects in the country.
Latipov spoke with the Blade while he was in D.C. to lobby the World Bank Group and other multilateral development banks to pressure the Uzbek government to stop its persecution of LGBTQ and intersex people. Sinani and two other activists — Irena Cvetkovic, executive director of Coalitions Margins in North Macedonia, and Amarildo Fecanji, the Albania-based executive director of ERA – LGBTI Equal Rights Association for Western Balkans — were with Latipov.
“In Samarkand I attended the annual meetings of the EBRD with the aim of raising awareness on the brutal policies of Uzbekistan toward the LGBTI community,” Sinani told the Blade in a lengthy statement. “EBRD has a role to play to include the LGBTI community in its development projects to be able to fully deliver on its mandate.”
Sinani said he met with EBRD President Odile Renaud-Basso, EBRD board members and management “as part of my engagement there.”
“The Uzbek police stopped me from entering the meeting venue following a speech I held at the main meeting of EBRD board of directors with the civil society representatives,” Sinani told the Blade. “The police confiscated tote bags we used to handout reading marerials to the counterparts we met. Materials raised awareness on the brutal crackdown of Uzbek government on the LGBTI community in the country.”
“The behavior of the Uzbek police is a reflection of the situation in the country toward the LGBTI community. In this case they harrased and intimated me for the sole reason of raising awareness on the situation on the ground. With the LGBTI community in the country they go harsh, way harsh. They imprison them after doctors establish their sexual orientation via anal examinations, which WHO regards as a form of torture,” he said. “Such criminalization and discrimination is completely unacceptable and EBRD, alone the other international finance institutions, need to condemn and demand from the Uzbek government to repeal the law that enables them to hunt down the LGBTI community.”
Asia
Taiwan Parliament bill allows gay couples to jointly adopt kids
Taiwan remains the only jurisdiction in Asia to have legalized same-sex marriage
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/05/Legislative-Yuan-of-the-Republic-of-China-in-Taipei-Taiwan.jpg)
TAIPEI, Taiwan – A week before the fourth anniversary of Taiwan granting the legal right to same-sex couples to marry on 24 May 2019, the parliament of the island republic passed an amendment allowing same-sex couples to jointly adopt children.
The rights were an amendment to the same-sex marriage bill that passed its third reading in the Legislative Yuan without objection, AFP/France 24 reported.
The amendment establishes that the process for joint adoption is now procedurally identical for same-sex couples as it is for heterosexual couples under Taiwan’s civil code.
A Democratic Progressive Party legislator Hung Sun-han joyfully announced the news on Twitter.
Great news! Same-sex family joint adoption has finally passed the third reading in Taiwan! 🌈🏳️🌈 This milestone reflects our commitment to democracy, human rights, and equality. #EqualAdoption #LoveKnowsNoBoundaries pic.twitter.com/3tuxP3oz0z
— 洪申翰 Hung,Sun-Han (@hungsunhan) May 16, 2023
Earlier this year, the government of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen lifted restrictions on transnational same-sex marriage, allowing the island’s LGBTQ+ residents to marry partners from jurisdictions such as Japan or Hong Kong that have yet to legalize same-sex marriages.
Same-sex marriages between Taiwanese residents and those from mainland China are still prohibited. Taiwan remains the only jurisdiction in Asia to have legalized same-sex marriage.
“After four years of hard work, today the parliament finally passed the (bill for) adoption without blood relationship by same-sex couples,” the advocacy group Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) said in a statement.
The amendment comes after a family court in southern Kaohsiung City last year ruled in favour of a married gay man seeking to share parenthood of his husband’s adoptive child — the first verdict of its kind, AFP/France 24 reported.
Another Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Fan Yun, draped in a rainbow flag, spoke to local media. “The amendment not only ensures the protection of children’s rights but also meets their best interest,” said Fan. “In the future, spouses and parents, regardless of gender and sexual orientation, can have full legal protection.”
Asia
LGBT Center closed by government of China’s President Xi Jinping
In recent years the Chinese government has moved towards becoming more intolerant and homophobic towards LGBTQ people
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/05/Beijing-LGBT-Center-Mitch-Altman.jpg)
BEIJING, China – The government of Chinese President Xi Jinping continued its crackdown on the country’s LGBTQ+ minority, abruptly forcing closure of the Beijing LGBT Center Monday.
In a brief message posted to the Sina Weibo microblogging website and on its WeChat account the Center stated: “We very regretfully announce, due to forces beyond our control, the Beijing LGBT Center will stop operating today.”
With its closure, the Beijing LGBT Center, which has been operating for fifteen years since it was founded in 2008, leaves China’s LGBTQ+ people with few resources to turn to. In November of 2021, prominent LGBTQ+ equality rights legal group LGBT Rights Advocacy China, co-founded by Peng Yanzi and A. Qiang in the city of Guangzhou in 2013, and focused its efforts on securing legal rights for LGBTQ individuals through strategic lawsuits in China’s legal system, indefinitely suspended operations.
That suspension taking place after previously in July of 2021, the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) permanently disabled and deleted dozens of LGBTQ student organizations WeChat accounts across China.
The accounts, which were primarily managed by students, advocate LGBTQ and gender equality, and providing support to LGBTQ students on university and college campuses.
The pages of those accounts now display the message: “According to internet regulations, we have screened all content and suspended this account.” The names of the accounts have been changed to “Unnamed.”
In a early morning phone call Wednesday local time to an activist in the Chinese capital who asked to not be identified, the Blade was told that there was an accelerated push by President Xi Jinping’s government to rein in LGBTQ+ groups and activists. The activist indicated that the center had published an article commemorating its 15 years of dedicated work last week, which “likely caught the scrutiny of both the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security.”
“They are not the first group, nor are they the largest, but because Beijing LGBT Center was in Beijing, it represented China’s LGBT movement,” said another Chinese activist who requested anonymity out of fear for his safety to the Associated Press. “In our political, economic and cultural center, to have this type of organization. It was a symbol of the LGBT movement’s presence.”
A human rights activist from Hong Kong, who spoke to the Blade on the condition of remaining anonymous, pointed out that in recent years the government has moved towards becoming more intolerant and homophobic towards LGBTQ people.
Acceptance of LGBTQ individuals in China has varied historically. In modern China, homosexuality is neither a crime nor officially regarded as an illness in China. For decades, the legal status of consensual same-sex activity between men was ambiguous- although at one point consensual sexual acts between people of the same sex were banned under a law on hooliganism in 1979 with punishments ranging from imprisonment to execution. That was cleared up in the revised criminal code of 1997 as China moved to decriminalize homosexuality.
In 2001, the Chinese Society of Psychiatry removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders. This is consistent with the consensus of global medical associations that homosexuality is not a medical condition. But same-sex marriage is still illegal and the topic remains taboo socially.
Chinese government officials increasingly push the narrative that LGBTQ+ culture is an imported “Western” idea, while expressing concern that the country’s big tech platforms are spreading subversive views and ideas that could upend traditional ideas of gender.
In an action promulgated by the government of President and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping this week, China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) ordered broadcasters to “resolutely put an end to sissy men and other abnormal esthetics.”
In the directive, the NRTA used the term “Niang pao” which means “girlie guns” — more commonly translated as “sissy” an offensive description of effeminate men. The directive is seen as taking direct aim at the idols of the Chinese music industry who tend to be in their late teens to mid twenties, are thin, and dress in what could be loosely deemed an androgynously ambiguous manner.
The nationwide crackdown on human rights lawyers and activists started in 2015 after Xi came to power.
Speaking with the Associated Press, the activist noted that police pressure on rights groups increased in the past few years, the activist said. Police often invited LGBTQ+ groups to “drink tea” — a euphemism for unofficial meetings that police use to keep track of certain targets. That used to happen in public spaces, but started taking place in private spaces, such as directly in front of activists’ homes. Police also started taking activists to the police station for these “teas.”
The Beijing LGBT Center has faced ongoing challenges to stay open throughout its existence, with obstacles arising from both funding limitations and political pressures. LGBTQ groups cannot register as non-governmental organizations in China, making it difficult to obtain government approval for events and secure external funding.
Because of those restrictions, groups like the Center have been forced to create fundraising events at local bars and or receive direct financial support from groups outside of China. The Center also began to rent out its space to other, related organizations on weekdays at below-market rates, effectively tapping into its biggest asset—its real estate.
In addition to this there was direct financial support from the Center’s sister organization, the Los Angeles LGBT Center.
This latest move is seen by some China-watchers as another in a decades long battle by Beijing to combat Western influences on the younger generations of Chinese.
Conservatives in Chinese society and government charge that young Chinese youth are turning into ‘soft boys,’ reflecting concern that the Chinese pop stars who have embraced the pop-culture phenomenon in part due to the influence of the South Korean pop music and all-encompassing genre known as K-Pop, are failing to encourage China’s young men to be masculine enough.
In some government circles the source told the Blade its seen as overtly homosexual and targeting young Chinese males. One area that has raised the ire of officials is video games.
Game developers already were required to submit new titles for government approval before they could be released. Officials have called on them to add nationalistic themes, the AP reported.
“There is a tendency in China for some people to relate homosexuality and LGBT people to Western lifestyles or capitalistic, bourgeois decadence, so this was in line with a moral panic,” said Hongwei Bao, an associate professor of media studies at the University of Nottingham and specialist in queer politics in China.
“Especially now, there’s tension between China-West relations, so there is likely to be a heightened sense of nationalism which sees LGBT issues, feminist issues, as Western, as unfit for China.”
A closeted gay government source told the Blade that world events factor in to the crackdowns. Citing the rising tensions with Taiwan and its closest ally, the United States as an example.
He noted that in addition to gay men and lesbians, the Center had opened its doors and resources to bisexual and transgender individuals, who themselves are minorities within the LGBT community and, as a result, face particular challenges.
“Their shutdown makes one feel very helpless. As groups large and small shut down or stop hosting events, there’s no longer a place where one can see hope,” said another Chinese activist who requested anonymity for fear of government retribution told the AP.
Asia
Inside the hidden lesbian nightclubs of Seoul
For a few hours, women can gather without fear of discrimination
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/05/Hongdae_neighborhood_in_Seoul_insert_by_hwan_via_Bigstock.jpg)
SEOUL, South Korea — Hongdae, a neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea, is known for its vibrant nightlife and indie music scene. By day, it’s a shopping and café mecca. By night it’s a crazy, alcohol-fueled playground. What’s easy to miss — and not even many Koreans living in Hongdae know about — is that hidden in plain sight, there are also secret lesbian clubs where women can gather and be themselves without fear of judgment or discrimination.
“Hongdae is the lesbian area of Seoul?!” my good friend blurted out when I told him over dinner. He’s been a resident of Hongdae for more than seven years but had never noticed. Most Koreans don’t know any LGBTQ+ people as Korean society is conservative and not accepting of homosexuality. Hongdae’s reputation as a more free-thinking, hipster haven makes it a perfect location for openness — albeit in private.
In South Korea, homosexuality is not illegal, but it is not widely accepted, especially in more conservative areas of the country. Seoul is more open compared to the countryside but not open enough for lesbians to be open. Same-sex couples cannot legally marry or adopt children and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community is still prevalent.
Allen, a Korean woman in her 20s says, “There is a very strong homophobic atmosphere [in Korea] regardless of generation.”
Despite these challenges, the LGBTQ+ community in South Korea has been gradually (very gradually) gaining some visibility and acceptance in recent years such as an LGBTQ+ dating reality show “Merry Queer” following lesbian, gay and Transgender couples. Seoul’s gay Pride parade — which last year drew thousands of participants despite protests from conservative religious groups — shows a shift in thinking too. However, it’s not enough progress as lesbian and bisexual women are still meeting in the dark.
One way in which the community has been able to connect and support each other is through secret lesbian clubs. Goon Young* is a Seoul freelancer in her mid-20s. Growing up she was constantly told that being straight is “natural” which left her feeling confused about her sexuality. “I thought I was bisexual when I was in college. I figured out that I don’t like men only about two years ago.” Goon Young enjoys hanging out at Hongdae’s lesbian club scene regularly.
These clubs are not advertised openly and are often hidden in inconspicuous side-streets, or in basements behind mainstream clubs.
One of these secret clubs is close to an infamous drinking spot for foreigners and when some foreign men were turned away for not being women, they looked visibly confused. It’s a large, luxe club with a strict no photograph rule. There’s table service and the DJ blasts Korean rap such as Jay Park and Zico.
This club and most of the others won’t easily pop up when you search on your phone’s map so usually lesbians need to get to know another lesbian to ask around for the exact location. This typically involves going to an LGBTQ+ bar first, or meet-up group and making friends there, as blurting out to your work buddies “Oh, by the way, is anyone else here gay?” wouldn’t go down too well in Korea. Goon Young concurs, “I’m pretty open to people that I love, someone like my mom or friends, but you can’t really tell people who are coworkers or someone [you] just met.”
Discrimination and stigma against the LGBTQ+ community persist in many areas of South Korean society, including the workplace and school. Many LGBTQ+ individuals still face rejection from their families and friends, and some even resort to conversion therapy to try and change their sexual orientation.
Luckily Goon Young’s mom is supportive, but not entirely convinced. “I came out to my mom — who loves me — last year. She still loves me and cheers me up when I have heartbreaks with girlfriends. But she says she still can’t take it seriously and gay things are not ‘natural,’ she always tells me to meet some good guys and date them even though I always reply to her that I don’t like men.”
The lesbian nightlife scene’s purpose is truly to create a safe space and respect the privacy of all. There’s so much trust in these clubs that “lonely heart” style personal ads are displayed on the big projector screen behind the DJ in the first club where I partied. After all, queer dating isn’t as straight-forward in a country that prizes straightness.
Inside these clubs, women let their guard down and can be themselves. They can dance, drink, and socialize without fear of being judged or harassed. Legally speaking, South Korea doesn’t have comprehensive LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination laws so the fear of physical safety for the LGBTQ+ community really means that a “safe space” carries much more weight than a “safe space” in a country where there’s more acceptance of gay rights.
Another safe space was a tiny club a little walk away from the big, “lonely hearts personals” club. What it lacked in size it made up for in chaotic ENERGY! Nobody was sitting in a corner here and after picking up my free drink included with the entry fee (every club did this), it was hit after hit from rapper Lil Nas X to K-pop group BLACKPINK.
Although lesbian and bi women were dancing wildly, enjoying the night, even within these safe spaces, many club-goers still feel the need to remain cautious as the fear of being outed can be overwhelming.
The last club I went to carried this caution. Located on an inconspicuous street, women were looking over their shoulders when paying in. That is, right up until the elevator doors shut. Once shut, women let their guards down and asked me how I found out about this place. Once inside — free drink handled (every club did Budweiser as a free drink option) — it was a playground of EDM, large opulent bottle service with half-undressed bartenders. One of them was even passing around free shots from one of the stripper pole podiums.
If there’s a lesbian heaven, I think I caught a glimpse of it here.
The cool air hit me as I left for home but nobody walking past suspected that the women leaving this club were not heterosexual. The fact that these clubs are still a secret highlights the need for greater acceptance and visibility of the LGBTQ+ community in South Korea. While progress has been made in recent years, there is still a long way to go before LGBTQ+ individuals can openly express their identities without fear of discrimination or being attacked.
“Young people in Korea are pretty open to LGBTQ, [but] of course, there are [some] who hate LGBTQ people. Most of the old people just can’t take it”, Goon Young says.
The existence of secret lesbian clubs in Hongdae and other parts of Seoul is a testament to the resilience and strength of the LGBTQ+ community in South Korea, also. Despite facing significant challenges and obstacles, these women have found a way to connect and support each other, creating safe spaces where they can be themselves.
Hongdae’s secret world of lesbian clubs offers a glimpse behind the curtain. Despite many hurdles, on a late, spring night in underground Hongdae clubs, women danced and flirted freely for the few hours they could be themselves.
(Editor’s note: Some names have been changed to protect identities of sources. Ash Potter is a freelance journalist based in Seoul.)
Asia
South Korean capital cancels queer festival over Christian event
The organizing committee “has no choice but to suspect that the Christian event was planned to oppose the queer culture festival”
![](https://www.losangelesblade.com/content/files/2023/05/SEOUL-Queer-Culture-Festival-2022-2-e1683492999287.jpg)
SEOUL – The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced this past week that it had cancelled its approval for the organizers of the 24th annual Seoul Queer Culture Festival (SQCF), to hold the massive LGBTQ+ event scheduled for July 1 at Seoul Plaza.
The huge central plaza is located in front of Seoul City Hall at Taepyeongno, Jung-gu in the South Korean capital city.
The daily English-language newspaper ‘The Korea Times’ reported that the SQCF organizing committee and Christian Television System (CTS) Culture Foundation had both applied to book the Plaza for their respective events on April 3, 90 days before their events scheduled for July 1.
Since 2015, the event has been held in front of the city hall, except for 2020 and 2021 when the coronavirus pandemic rules prevented any public gatherings. The festival has drawn thousands of attendees each summer to downtown Seoul, supported by human rights groups, university clubs, and foreign embassies. It routinely draws protests, and the police presence is often heavy.
In a statement to local media outlets, Yang Sun-woo, chief organiser of the SQCF, said the city’s move is an act of discrimination. “Each year, we struggle to secure a venue to hold the event,” she said.
“In previous years, the city government held in-person meetings with all concerned parties to rearrange the dates if more than one group wanted to book Seoul Plaza, as stated in the regulations. But this year, the city government cut corners and tossed the issue to the civic committee on very short notice,” SQCF organizing committee Chair Sun-woo told The Korea Times, Thursday.
Yang added that the group became aware of the city’s approval of the CTS event before the final decision was delivered on Wednesday, via a local media interview with Lee Sung-bae, a ruling People Power Party member of the Seoul Metropolitan Council, as well as the CTS’ concert promotion message on its website.
Yang said that, given the circumstances, the SQCF organizing committee “has no choice but to suspect that the Christian event was planned to oppose the queer culture festival.”
The CTS Cultural Foundation is linked to the CTS Christian broadcast outlet that opposes homosexuality and clashes over the Seoul Queer Culture Festival are a yearly battle as same-sex marriage is not recognised and anti-discrimination laws face strong resistance by those groups.
A spokesperson for CTS Cultural Foundation claimed that the timing was not aimed at blocking the LGBTQ festival.
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