2004 Felipa Awardee - Gender/Sexuality Rights Association of Taiwan

IGLHRC was proud to present this year’s award to the distinguished Gender/Sexuality Rights Association, Taiwan (G/SRAT) on June 7 in New York City and June 9 in San Francisco. G/SRAT has been a primary public voice of the LGBT community in Taiwan for many years. From its history rooted in Taiwan’s vibrant women’s community, G/SRAT has branched out to fight numerous diverse battles on behalf of LGBT people and sexual minorities in Taiwan. Some of the issues G/SRAT has confronted include:

• Police harassment and discrimination in Taipei
• Homophobic representations in the Ministry of Education “dictionary for youth and foreigners,” and media stigmatization of LGBT people
• Privacy infringements caused by issuance of computerized health cards that make complete health records immediately available to medical providers and government institutions.

Part legal advocate, part media watchdog, part information disseminator, G/SRAT has been a full-time community builder connecting the LGBT community with each other and creating alliances with sexuality, women’s, youth, healthcare and other human rights NGO’s.

More about G/SRAT:

• WANG Ping, Secretary General
  Wang Ping has actively participated in the women worker's movement, the women's movement, as well as the Lesbian, Gay, Queer and Transgender movements of Taiwan since the late 1980's until the present. She is founding member and principal architect of Gender/Sexuality Rights Association Taiwan as well as indefatigable organizer and fighter for the rights of gender and sexual minorities on all fronts in Taiwan. Wang's work includes training and organizing of activists and activist groups, planning for events and actions; she works with several LGBT and AIDS human rights groups. Wang is a frequent speaker on gender and sexual rights issues in government and NGO sponsored classes, as well as on media news discussion panels and talk shows. Wang also writes in the news media intervening in the public discussion of controversial gender and sexual rights events. In recognition of her work for women's and LGBT human rights, on November 19, 2002, she was one of fourteen Taipei citizens awarded an "Honorary Citizen of Taipei City Commemorative Badge." In 2003, she was also one of four Utopia Awards (Bangkok, Thailand) recipients, in recognition of her longtime contribution to Taiwan lesbian and gay human rights struggles.
• CHEN Yu-Rong, LGBT News Agency Director
  Chen Yu-Rong has participated in the women's movement and the Lesbian, Gay, Queer and Transgender movements in Taiwan since the early 1990's until the present. A founding member of G/SRAT, Chen has been and continues to be the main strategist and scriptwriter-director-actor for drama-action-events for the G/SRAT. Chen has worked on the editorial staff of the G & L Magazine (one of the first commercially published gay and lesbian magazine in public circulation in Chinese speaking East Asia) . Chen initiated and directs the LGBT News Agency since June 22, 2000. Subscribers to the LGBT News Agency include activist groups, cultural workers, gay rights scholars, university professors, LGBT groups, and media personnel. This online news source is often cited as reference for LGBT movement actions and in the formulation of progressive pro-LGBT agendas.
• NI Chia-Chen, International Liaison Director
  Ni Chia-Chen has taken active part in the women's movement and the Lesbian, Gay, Queer and Transgender movements in Taiwan for more than a decade. She has long worked with university and high school lesbian youth groups in their process of forming organizations, and is also a lecturer for the Gay and Lesbian Hotline volunteer training course. Ni Chia-Chen's work focus is in the area of women and AIDS, LGBT issues, LGBT peer group work and counseling; she has also edited Taiwan's first handbook on Women and AIDS prevention. She is presently G/SRAT's international liaison officer and maintains contact with LGBT human rights groups worldwide.
• DING Nai-Fei, Translator
  Ding Nai-Fei is a feminist scholar and has long supported the women's movement and sexual rights movements in Taiwan. Ding is presently a member of the Center for the Study of Sexualities while teaching at the National Central University (Chung-Li, Taiwan). She has written on issues of feminism and sexuality and has published a book (Obscene Things: Sexual Politics in Jin Ping Mei, Duke University Press, 2002).