Taipei mayor defends city’s inclusivity after gay bar raid sparks protests

TAIPEI – Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an on Oct 5 defended the city as welcoming and inclusive after a police raid on a gay bar sparked protests by the LGBTQ+ community over alleged discrimination and official misconduct.

One video of the weekend raid that circulated on social media showed a police officer asking a customer in a wheelchair who was in the toilet how people with disabilities “manage to have sex in there”.

Chiang, who faces re-election in November, said he deeply regretted “improper conduct” by the police.

Taiwan legalised same-sex marriage in 2019 in a first for Asia, and is normally a bastion of tolerance in a region where LGBTQ+ rights are often suppressed or outlawed. Taipei holds its main Pride event later in October, the largest in East Asia.

Taipei police raided the Commander D bar in the city’s main gay neighbourhood of Ximen on the afternoon of Oct 3, citing a complaint alleging that the bar could be violating public decency laws. They took 51 people in for questioning and arrested the owner.

The police said on Oct 4 they had taken disciplinary action against officers for “inappropriate conduct” during the operation, without elaborating.

Chiang, who has attended the Taipei Pride event, said that regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation, identity, ethnicity or beliefs, the government must ensure everyone in Taipei enjoys equal rights.

“Taipei has always been an inclusive and friendly city for us,” he said.

Chiang, who is from the opposition Kuomintang, is locked in a tight election race against Puma Shen from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.

Shen said in a Facebook post on Oct 5 that while any illegality should be handled according to the law, people’s rights and dignity should be respected.

“Taipei’s diversity and inclusivity should not only be visible on Pride parade day,” he wrote.

Rights groups angered

The Commander D raid was one of three operations on Oct 3 involving Ximen gay bars, police precinct spokesman Chen Yu-cheng told Reuters. The police had in the past conducted “irregular inspections” of the three venues, he said.

Chen added that the precinct inspected 15 entertainment venues on Oct 3.

Rights groups say there is a deeper problem.

“This was not a case of individual officers misspeaking or a single instance of excessive enforcement, but the resurfacing of longstanding homophobia, discrimination and abuse of power within the police enforcement system,” the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights said in a joint statement with other groups condemning the raid.

One person among the 51 taken in for questioning said they were detained for more than six hours after the police accused them of violating a law that prohibits “wantonly exposing one’s naked body or presenting a lascivious posture in a public place”.

The person, who requested anonymity, said they had removed their shirt shortly before the police arrived only because the bar was crowded and hot.

“I trusted the police to know the law,” the person said. “So when they told me I had broken the law by not wearing a shirt in a public place and had to pay a fine, I did not challenge them.”

Lead investigator Chen Yi-kai told Reuters that shirtless people were taken in because officers had found evidence of sexual or obscene conduct but could not immediately determine who was involved, adding that the police were inclined not to fine them. REUTERS