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此為一老外記者報導台灣反多元成家法案報導(如有OP請告知)

http://globalnewscllee.blogspot.tw/2013/12/1130.html

[報導] 仇恨的盛宴──1130反同性婚姻遊行紀實
文／寇謐將（J. Michael Cole）
譯／李鐘林


反對同性婚姻的人走上街頭，又一次說明了盲目與偏狹、謊言與仇恨才是他們信仰的根基






反同性婚姻的抗議民眾集結在凱達格蘭大道







示威者妨礙其他民眾行動自由




遭群眾圍困的年輕同志







用禱告來「醫治」年輕的男同志？







以愛奮戰



啊，其中還有仇視外國人的，有塊很大的看板就把同性戀歸咎給外國人。












這個社會還有很多問題尚待解決，還有很多不公不義需要平反，可是，今天讓人們站出來
的唯一動力，竟然是要否定其他人組成家庭的基本權利。


最新消息：律師團已經介入，受害者將提起誹謗、違反拘禁、與侵犯人身自由等民事告訴
，另外也不排除提出刑事告訴。


英文版:

A feast of hatred (updated with video links + 中文 links)

Once again, opponents of same-sex marriage demonstrated that bigotry and
intolerance, lies and hatred, are the foundations of their beliefs

After several weeks of buildup, the groups who oppose same sex-marriage in
Taiwan descended by the busload on Taipei today for a large protest as the
government mulls legal revisions that would make same-sex unions possible.
Based on the language that had been used to date, I expected bigotry — and
they certainly delivered. In fact, in terms of the magnitude of their
intolerance, they showed their true colors.


Opponents of same-sex marriage gather on Ketagalan
According to the organizers, as many as 350,000 people (though probably less)
turned up for the event, which was intended as a means to pressure the
legislature not to amend Article 972 of the Civil Code, which would open the
door to same-sex marriage. Pink was the color theme for the event. There was
a variety of placards, many reading “Made in Mommy and Daddy” or “All Kids
Need Daddy and Mommy,” among others (I have one dad and three moms, and they
all love me; how about that, lady?). Apparently the organizers failed to
realize that pink was the very color used by the Nazis — the infamous “pink
triangle” — to identify homosexuals. (According to the Holocaust
Encyclopedia, the Gestapo arrested as many as 100,000 men as homosexuals
between 1933 and 1945. About 50,000 men were sent to regular prison, while
between 5,000 and 15,000 were interned in concentration camps.) One of the
protesters even turned up wearing a complete Nazi uniform. “I don’t care if
people don’t like it,” he said. “I will fight back.” To be fair to the
Nazis (I can’t believe I’m saying this!), I would say that many of the
haters who came out today were more a mix of Nazis and the KKK.

Not all the protesters who participated at the event were Nazis, of course,
but a great many of them were Christians. Even though organizers had called
upon their followers to avoid showing any sign that would identity them as
members of the Church, the choice of songs left little doubt about their
affiliations.


Blocking efforts
Interestingly, in my more than seven years working as a journalist in Taiwan,
this was the first time that civilians approached me and told me I was not
allowed to take pictures. The site of the protest on Ketagalan Boulevard,
they told us as we approached, was a “closed area.” Only after I insisted
that I was a journalist, and Ketty told them she was an academic here to
study social movements in Taiwan, were we allowed to enter the site. All “
security” staff wore special red armbands. There were several hundreds of
them, and they kept close tabs on whoever walked around, in a manner that was
reminiscent of, but that surpassed in its aggressiveness, the staff of
Citizen 1985 who got on my nerves when I tried to cover their protests.
Sometimes they would ask people who approached whether they were “for” or “
against” same-sex marriage. Those who answered that they were for were
barred access. So much for dialogue...


Surrounded by intolerance
This was also one of the rare times when civilians arrogated upon themselves
rights and duties that are normally the remit of law-enforcement officers.
Groups of protesters repeatedly locked arms, encircled, and blocked people
who carried placards supporting gay marriage (see videos here and here and
here). Not even the betel nut-chewing thugs hired by the German wind power
firm InfraVest to protest their sites in Yuanli, Miaoli County, were this
bad. On many occasions, they also prevented me from walking around freely and
left me little choice but to collide with them. More than once I asked what
right they had to prevent people from moving freely in a public space. I
never received an answer.

As the anti-same-sex marriage group formed a tightening circle around members
of the United Church (which tolerates homosexuality), a woman berated Ketty
for speaking English. “We’re in China, and we speak Chinese here,” she
said. Needless to say, if the discriminatory and utterly unnecessary remarks
against language weren’t sufficient to anger Ketty, the reference to China
did the trick.


Praying to 'heal' a young gay man?
At one point, two men locked arms around a young man who had fallen to the
ground while they were pursuing him. I got on my knees next to him and
snapped pictures, as several dozens of protesters with their pink placards
and banners looked on. They nearly suffocated the poor thing, so closely were
they holding him. I looked up and saw a group of Southeast Asian women
praying out loud, their arms extended towards the young man. I went over and
asked them what they were doing. “We are praying,” one of them said. This
much I could tell. “Are you praying so that you will heal him?” I asked,
echoing a belief, held by many religious people, that somehow homosexuality
is a disease that can be healed. “Why are you asking?” one of them replied
with palpable contempt. I told them I was a journalist and that I was curious
as to why they were extending their arms in his direction while praying. “We
’re just praying,” she said, whereupon they made it clear that his
questions — his presence, in fact — were unwelcome. I had my answer: they
were indeed trying to “heal” him.

For people who claim to know about love, the mobilization today was one of
pure hatred and discrimination. Group dynamics were evidently at play and
confirmed what I have long suspected, that a large number of those who turn
to religion do so out of a need to follow, to be told how to think. Many of
them are perfectly suited to meet the needs of the authoritarian Church and
follow it like sheep, even if this leads them down the road of bigotry.
Individually they are cowards, but as a group, they impose their beliefs on
others in a way that contradicts what the Book tells them. Challenged with
fact, they quickly run out of ideas and run away.


Fighting back with love
For example, ask them to explain how allowing same-sex marriage would lead to
bestiality, or how preventing gay unions would eventually solve the problem
(homosexuals would disappear over time), and they don’t have a clue how to
respond. They’ll have that inevitable smug look on their face, and they will
condescend, tell you that they are enlightened by their religion, et cetera.
But in the end, their minds are hollow. (The repeated references to
bestiality are especially worrying, as this points to a process of
dehumanization, whereby the “other” isn’t exactly human and is therefore
fair game for all kinds of discriminations. Somehow if one’s partner is of
the same sex, he or she is less than human; once we allow that, the next step
is presumably having intercourse with animals.)

Oh, and there was xenophobia, too. A huge sign blamed homosexuality on
foreigners.

Many of the protesters were children and hired helps who obviously didn’t
have a clue about the issue. Some children were doing their homework on the
ground. One mother firmly held up the arm of her little girl, who obviously
didn’t want to be there, for half an hour so that the homosexuals and their
supporters who faced them could see the pink placard she was holding.
Organizers wanted a large turnout, and they got one. Still, numbers alone don
’t mean much unless they are put in a context. There were far, far more
people today who expressed their opposition to same-sex marriage, but in the
end, they remain the minority. Taiwan, a predominantly Buddhist country, has
about 500,000 Catholics. Even if every single one of them opposed same-sex
marriage and showed up at the protest (not all religious persons are
homophobic, but most homophobes happen to be religious), they would still
only constitute 1/46th of the total population of about 23 million. That a
relatively much smaller number of people turned up to support gay marriage,
or didn’t show up altogether, is a sign that for them, this is a non issue
and none of their business. We should also add that the LGBT Pride parade
held last month, which attracted approximately 65,000 people, had already
advocated for the marriage rights of same-sex couples.


The face of pain
Still, as the several thousands of people poured onto the scene, I could not
help but try to imagine what it must feel like to be one of the small number
of courageous homosexuals who were holding their placards a few meters away,
near the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I would be devastated at the idea that
so many people would come out, with hatred in their hearts, to deny my very
existence, to resent me for something I was born with. No wonder some of them
shed tears.

As I mingled with the crowd, I thought about all the other protests I had
been to in the past 18 months, all the suffering that I had experienced.
Where were those people — people with supposed religious ideals, a
conscience, love, compassion — when the government was demolishing the homes
of vulnerable individuals? When people who had lost all hope were ending
their lives? None of them were familiar faces (the only familiar faces today
were on the side of the angels).

There are so many problems in society, so much injustice that need remedying.
And yet, the only cause that prompted those people to mobilize today was one
that seeks to deny other people the right to form a family.

UPDATE: Lawyers have gotten involved, and the victims are planning to file
civil lawsuits for slander, false imprisonment, and infringement on personal
freedom. They are also considering criminal charges. (All photos by the
author)

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