About the march, I want to say...] Danubak: How far is the gay march from the indigenous gay people?

Author: Danubak (Founding President of Taiwan Indigenous Primary Teachers Association),24 October 2012

I have not personally participated in them, but I have discussed them in my LGBT studies classes, such as "the commercialized paradise of mainstream gay people", "degenerating into a carnival, lacking political demands", "ignoring marginalized gay issues", etc. The simple criticism is that the LGBT parade has degenerated into a non-political frenzy and has a certain central tendency. It does not include multicultural issues such as race and class.

At that time, I didn't feel anything, and I didn't really want to care about whether the march in Taiwan was like that. We talked about his college life, his recent relationship, and the lack of understanding of aborigines in Taipei and the stereotypes of aborigines in the gay community. Although we were in Ximending, and my friend tried to speak the language of Taipei, we looked around for dark skin and deep features, "Doubt it! That looks like Amis!" "That's Bunun's, right? The calf..., ha!" I wanted to find out if there were any aboriginal gay men in Taipei.

My friend talked about the conflict between the gay community and the aboriginal community he joined in college. However, he handled the situation very well and was brave enough to face the challenges of "indigenous" and "gay" people in each group. However, being both aboriginal and gay, it is very important for him to have self-identity on both sides.

At the first Taiwan LGBT march in 2003, I walked in the march with the Taiwan Gender Equality Education Association. I let go of the feeling that I didn't fit in and just walked as a "gender equality educator" for a while. It was the first time that the march called for "homosexuality is here." In the past, gay people were afraid to come forward and say "I'm gay," so the stigma against gay people continued to be used to suppress gay people. There were still many gay friends in the group who were afraid of exposure so they wore masks, and the media was also very jealous of the faces underneath the masks and only photographed gorgeously dressed transgender or water boys, still trying to present the imagery of the stigma of being gay.

In 2005, my Hualien friends and I established the "Caohai Tong" LGBTQ Book Club, which cares about aboriginal LGBTQ issues. We also thought about holding a LGBTQ rally in Hualien, but during the discussion, we thought, "The political center is in Taipei, will the media pay attention to Hualien's LGBTQ demands? But during the discussion, we thought, "The political center is in Taipei, will the media pay attention to Hualien's LGBT demands? How many people in Hualien dare to show up for the march? If "seeing gay people" or "gay education" is the demand, what would be the way to talk to people in Hualien, a place where the land is sticky? People even joked that the people who might know about the Hualien LGBT march were tourists coming from Taipei to Hualien, so in that case, why not keep the march in Taipei and keep Hualien grassroots? Ha! So, there was no Hualien gay parade that year.

However, there are women's film festivals in Hualien that continue to work for dialogue between LGBTQ people and the public, and members of Caohai Tong are often invited to be panelists at the LGBTQ sessions of women's film festivals. Perhaps this is Hualien's way.

The procession is still far from the indigenous people.

In 2007, members of the LGBTQ Oral History Group at the Edge wore aboriginal clothing on the street, and a friend asked me why I didn't wear aboriginal clothing to the parade. I thought, "What will people see when an aboriginal wears aboriginal clothing in a gay parade? I didn't want to be the object of curiosity and foreign imagination, so I didn't want to wear aboriginal costumes in the gay parade after all. From my personal observation, I think the gay community is not ready to get to know the aborigines yet.

In 2009, after the establishment of the Taiwan Indigenous Grassroots Teachers' Association, we signed up for the first time as an indigenous group to participate in the Taiwan LGBT parade, and there were not many of us, but we finally appeared in the LGBT parade as an indigenous group. We hope that through this way, the aboriginal community can see the existence of gender diversity.

Later, in 2010, there was a LGBT march in Kaohsiung, and in 2011, there was a LGBT march in Hualien and Taichung, all with the participation of aboriginal LGBT people, and more and more high. LGBT and friendship groups all over Taiwan are linking up with each other and supporting various local actions that need LGBT voices to be heard and seen.

I quote the following from a member of colorful wi, an Aboriginal gender diversity group.

"The first time I attended the Taipei Gay and Lesbian Parade, I didn't know anything and I didn't know exactly what I was doing. When we arrived at the rally, it was like we were lost. We didn't know which direction we were going, which team we were in, and we didn't know anyone. Luckily, I saw the Taiwan Association for Gender Equality Education and planned to stay behind them, because after all, someone would say, "This is Mr. Danubak's association! That way I could still feel a lot of support.

At the beginning of the march, my sister and I pulled a long cloth, some people would look at us curiously, and of course we gave back ignorant looks, but no one came up to ask questions or walk with us, and I didn't see any aboriginal groups coming forward to march with us. But the feeling of loneliness and desolation was very solid. The laughter and figures of the aborigines disappeared on such a stage to show their best .....

What do we want to tell people by joining the march in silence until today? What can we represent by standing up? We are a group of aboriginal people, a group of multigender friends, and partners who stand up for LGBTQ people together.

We stand out to tell you.
"We believe in ourselves, we respect ourselves, and we have the power to speak out for our rights! -Carey

Carey has gone from being unfamiliar with Taipei to having marches in cities close to the tribes and slowly practicing her voice through civic action. We hope that Taiwan's LGBT march will not repeat the mistakes of the European and American LGBT march, and that diverse voices will be woven into the beautiful rainbow procession.

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