LGBT Civil Rights Movement Launching on Oct. 5, 2007 in Taipei
Stand by Queers, Love Taipei
The LGBT Civil Rights Movement, Taipei 2007 is launching on October 5. This year, the event features the theme of "Stand by Queers, Love Taipei" with the “Catching Lesbian and Gay movies” Film Festival and the “Getting to Know Queers” Panel Discussion. This relaxed screening opened for citizens is aimed at getting everyone in Taipei city to know about their LGBT friends who also live in this city.
Scheduled as a three-day weekend event, the “Catching Lesbian and Gay movies” Film Festival programs a series of remarkable LGBT movies made by Taiwan and foreign film makers in recent years. Together with the Q&A sessions after each programme, the event purposes to shorten the distance between citizens and LGBT people by enabling the audiences to understand the LGBT culture. Meanwhile, the “Getting to Know Queers” Panel Discussion showcases the universality of LGBT culture to the public. By discussing queer related topics, it gives the citizens an insight into the context of queer culture, and helps to develop the universal and progressive culture of Taipei City .
LGBT people are not only your friends but also citizens of your city. They are everywhere in the development history and landscape of Taipei City and they share the same living memories of yours. Get close to them and you will love the city even more. ■“Catching Lesbian and Gay movies” Film Festival
12 programmes of queer movies including latest works of two significant young filmmakers of Taiwan , Zero Chou and Mickey Chen, are showing with meaningful Q&A sessions scheduled at the end.
▼Venue
Red Theatre, 2F l (10, Cheng Du Road, Taipei City)
▼Schedule
10/5 （五）
Time / Programme (category) / Q&A Session
10:30-12:50 Formula 17(PG) Cheng Chi-wei (Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association)
13:00-15:20 Blue Gate Crossing(PG) Serpent Baby + 小逸 (LesHand Association)
15:30-17:50 Boys Don't Cry(PG) 高旭寬 ( Taiwan TG Butterfly Garden)
18:30-19:30 Opening Ceremony A Rainbow Feast for Everyone
19:30-21:50 ★ 妹狗、水蓮與竹篙 (tentative name)(PG) Zero Chou (Director) + Actresses of the movie + Hostess of Lez Radio
10/6 （ 六 ）
Time / Programme (category) / Q&A Session
10:30-12:50 Bear Cub(R) Ni Jia-zhen (Gender/Sexuality Rights Association, Taiwan )
13:00-15:20 Kinsey(R) 林純德 (Department of Mass Communication, Chinese Culture University)
15:30-17:50 Spider Lilies(PG) Zero Chou (Director) + Ding Nai-fei ( Department of English, National Central University )
18:30-20:50 ★ 沿海岸線徵友 + Scars on Memory Mickey Chen (Director) + Chu Wei-cheng ( Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Taiwan University)\
10/7 （ 日 ）
Time / Programme (category) / Q&A Session
10:30-12:50 Better Than Chocolate(R) Lai, J.J. (Owner of Gin Gin Bookstore)
13:00-15:20 Saving Face(PG) Mother Kuo ( 櫃父母同心協會 )
15:30-17:50 A Soap(R) Wang Ping (Gender/Sexuality Rights Association, Taiwan )
18:30-20:50 Transamerica(R) Wu Hsu-liang (Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association)
★The opening film 「妹狗、水蓮與竹篙」 (tentative name) is the newest movie directed by Zero Chou. Only a part of the tickets are opened for free acquiring.
★ 「沿海岸線徵友」 is the latest work of Director Mickey Chen.
▼Tickets ：
Free tickets on a limited quantity are available from 11am to 5pm , from Oct. 1 to Oct. 4, at West Wing Information Desk of Taipei City Government. Each person can acquire two tickets.
■ “Getting to Know Queers” Panel Discussion
A great chance for Taipei citizens and queers to get to know each other and to talk about crucial social issues.
▼Venue
Red Theatre, 1F l (10, Cheng Du Road, Taipei City)
▼Schedule
Discussion One
10/6 （ 六 ） 13:30-15:00 Why are homosexuals always be “restricted”? -- Differential Treatment on freedom of speech
Gin Gin Bookstore + Must Muster Publisher
Discussion Two
10/6 （ 六 ） 15:30-17:00 Bisexuals: Another Closet
Bi the Way
Discussion Three
10/7 （ 日 ） 13:30-15:00 Invisible Sex: Mainstream Morality VS Minor Subjects
Collective Of Sex Workers And Supporters + Gender/Sexuality Rights Association, Taiwan
Discussion Four
10/7 （ 日 ） 15:30-17:00 Dear Mom and Dad, I'm Gay/ My Child is a Homosexual
櫃父母同心協會 + Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association
• Souvenirs
▼ Attendants of Panel Discussions will all get a souvenir: “ A Rainbow Feast for Everyone ” – Six tasty recipes + Six beautiful stories.
Six recipes emphasizing specialties and good tastes of simple foods in each rainbow color are elaborately developed by the Rainbow Gourmet Team. Now you can experience the fun brought by the universality of these colors.
Another six lovely and colorful proses are presented by talented and young writers. Follow their lines and you will see the romance and happiness on the rainbow.
▼Audiences attending Q&A sessions of each programme may win special gifts designed by themes of the films: Happiness, Encouragement, Peace and Amazement.
■Organized by: Department of Civil Affairs, Taipei City Government
Executed by: Gender/Sexuality Rights Association, Taiwan Official Website: lgbttaipei.net
Information Hotline: 0932-389-176 (J.W. Chiang)
LGBT Film Festival targets the general public
The LGBT Civil Rights Movement film festival begins this week, despite a decrease in funding from Taipei City's new administration
By Ho Yi STAFF REPORTER Oct 05, 2007
Festival Notes
WHAT: LGBT Civil Rights Movement, Taipei (台北同玩節)
WHEN: Today through Sunday
WHERE: Red House Theater (紅樓劇場), 10 Chengdu Rd, Taipei (台北市成都路10號)
Details: The event is free. For more information, visit www.lgbttaipei.net
The Taiwan Pride Parade is coming up soon, but the government-sponsored LGBT Civil Rights Movement (台北同玩節) is leading the way this week with the LGBT Film Festival. The organization will hold screenings and forums on LGBT issues this weekend at the Red Playhouse (紅樓劇場) in Ximending (西門町).
Unlike the parade, which is privately funded, the LGBT event is sponsored by the Taipei City Department of Civil Affairs (台北市政府民政局) and the organizers believe it's their responsibility to address the general public, rather than the LGBT community alone.
"Since we are working within the public system, it's our duty to educate the public about civil rights and provide a forum that brings citizens closer to homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender citizens," said Wang Ping (王蘋), secretary-general of the Gender and Sexuality Rights Association in Taiwan (GSRAT, 台灣性別人權協會), the event's organizer.
Twelve movies intended to promote understanding of different lifestyles will be screened as part of the event. The organizer believes that cinema is not only an efficient tool of communication but also a universal medium accepted and enjoyed by a wide spectrum of people.
The self-exploration, coming-of-age theme returns in Formula 17 (17歲的天空) and Blue Gate Crossing (藍色大門). Transgender and transgender parenting issues are brought up in Boys Don't Cry and Transamerica, while the gay family is examined in Saving Face and Bear Cub. A variety of sexual orientations is played out in Better Than Chocolate, while Kinsey takes a look at the life of an influential American scholar of human sexuality.
Taiwanese and homosexual directors Zero Chou (周美玲) and Mickey Chen (陳俊志) will hold discussion sessions after screenings of their latest works Meikou, Shuilien and Chukao (妹狗、水蓮與竹篙) and Friends Wanted Along the Coastal Line (沿海岸線徵友).
From tomorrow to Sunday, four LGBT-related issues deemed most significant in Taiwanese society will be discussed in depth among invited groups. Representatives from Gin Gin Bookstore (晶晶書庫) and Must Muster Publisher (集合出版社) will examine the discrimination inherent in censorship: a high proportion of gay publications are labeled as adult material.
Rarely receiving attention, even within the LGBT community, issues of bisexuality will be tackled by the newly founded bisexual support group Bi the Way. Meanwhile, repressed, stigmatized and concealed sexual desires will be the focus of a seminar by GSRAT and the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters (COSWAS) (日日春關懷互助協會).
Activities aside, this year's venue has a special meaning to the gay community. The Red Playhouse used to be a popular gay hangout in the 1970s and has been regarded as an historical landmark and part of the collective memory of the community.
"Of course, such pieces of history are omitted from the official record. By holding the event here, we subtly point out the omission," Wang said.
With its funding reduced every year - from NT$1 million eight years ago, to NT$600,000 this year - and a change in city administration, the LGBT Civil Rights Movement sees a precarious future, according to Wang.
"The subsidization was part of the gay-friendly policy implemented by Lin Cheng-hsiu (林正修) [director of Taipei's Bureau of Civil Affairs during Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) administration]. As these issues are relatively unfamiliar to the new administration of Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), we do wonder how much support we can get from the city government," Wang said.
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