To advance LGBTI rights in Asia and around the world, the 2022 EU-Taiwan LGBTI Human Rights Conference: Intersex, Transgender and Protection of Lesbian and Gay Rights is being held on October 27 and 28 at the Civil Service Development Institute's Howard Civil Service International House in Taipei.
Executive Yuan Spokesperson and Minister without Portfolio Lo Ping-cheng delivered a speech at the opening ceremony of the conference, during which he noted that the previous EU-Taiwan LGBTI Human Rights Conference, co-hosted with the European Economic and Trade Office, had been held in 2019 on the theme of marriage equality and protection of LGBTI rights. This year's conference, held with the added assistance of the American Institute in Taiwan, focuses on further strengthening transgender and intersex rights protections, and is designed to facilitate an exchange of ideas between the approximately 500 officials, academic experts and civic representatives participating in the conference from 21 nations.
Spokesperson Lo said he hoped the conference would function as a platform to connect participants from around the world, and that the exchange of their different experiences would enable the formation of a consensus around the protection of LGBTI rights, and help to facilitate breakthroughs in future government policy here in Taiwan.
The Executive Yuan's Department of Gender Equality pointed out that Taiwan has been actively pushing to guarantee LGBTI rights in recent years. In addition to legalizing same-sex marriage, the government has prudently studied and discussed complementary measures to safeguard the rights of transgender and intersex people. The Executive Yuan is currently carrying out a national survey on the living conditions of LGBTI people, the first such official survey in Asia focusing on this population. The government hopes this survey will bring further understanding of the circumstances and difficulties facing LGBTI people so that laws and policy measures can be formulated to meet their needs.
The Department of Gender Equality stated the conference is a hybrid event with both online and in-person meetings. For more conference information, please visit the website of the Gender Equality Committee of the Executive Yuan: https://gec.ey.gov.tw/en/BE43D3ACC405B8EC