Abby Wu

語言:
English /// 中文
Translator: Yo-Ling Chen
Photo Credit: Ku Yo-Hong/WikiCommons/CC BY-SA 4.0

AS THE WORLD joins France in celebrating the Olympics, Taiwan, too, is following close behind, with Chinese Taipei team’s boxing queen Lin Yu-Ting set to throw her first punch in the Paris Olympics on August 2nd. In March of 2023, Lin Yu-Ting won a bronze medal at the Women’s World Boxing Championships, but on the eve of the award ceremony, she was required by the International Boxing Federation (IBF) to undergo testosterone level testing. The IBF ruled that her testosterone levels were too high and hence she was disqualified from competing.

Lin’s award was thus rescinded by the IBF. As a result of endless gender-related concerns during this year’s Paris Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) issued a statement emphasizing that all boxers who participate in the Paris Olympics must comply with competition rules and meet all eligibility requirements, including medical regulations.

Recently, Harry Potter author and notoriously outspoken critic of transgender women J.K. Rowling shared on X: “What will it take to end this insanity? A female boxer left with life-altering injuries? A female boxer killed?” As expected, Rowling once again showed that she will fight to the death on any transgender-related issue, even when said issues don’t explicitly have anything to do with transgender people.

As a transgender person surviving in Taiwan, I have faced a lot of mistreatment on the basis of my gender; from sarcastic remarks to outright ridicule, from job discrimination to family division, the mistreatment never ends. Because of these experiences, I started the Intersex, Transgender and Transsexual People Care Association over a decade ago because I knew then, as I know now, that we as a community needed to care for each other ourselves.

As the most progressive country in Asia in terms of LGBTQIA+ rights, Taiwan has already scored fifty points in my mind, but has yet to close the gap on the last ten points regarding transgender rights. In the past, we have accompanied our gay, lesbian, and bisexual friends by showing up for them on the streets to fight for marriage equality, equality rights, friends and stood on the streets to fight for marriage rights, as well as rights to equality and non-discrimination, together. After the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2019, much of Taiwan’s LGBTQIA+ movement has shifted its attention to transgender people.

In addition to the inequities mentioned above, transgender people in Taiwan face many problems, including but not limited to: being questioned by strangers while walking down the street, enduring suspicious stares in public restrooms, being unable to receive the same quality of medical treatment as the general public (since we must find transgender-friendly doctors), and even enduring the physical and mental anguish of being misunderstood by social workers when we report domestic violence incidents and need support the most.

Indeed, it is not easy being trans in Taiwan. I am grateful to all of my fellow trans community members for simply living every day, despite these conditions. Thank you. You don’t have to come out to march or even shout your sorrows for others to hear––just living is enough. Because as long as we are alive, we have a chance to see the sunshine. I know that right now feels like the dark before the dawn. Let’s get through this together. Let’s hold on for a little while longer. Together.

As global conservativism continues its coordinated assault on transgender people everywhere, especially transgender women, using every method to dehumanize us as monsters, as “men pretending to be women,” I am reminded of a quote from Indigenous rights activist Savungaz Valincinan: “You won’t die if you don’t say certain things, but if you say those things, other people may very well die.”

How many more transgender people does the world need to lose before this insanity ends?

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Abby Wu

Chairwoman of Intersex, Transgender and Transsexual People Care Association

台灣性別不明關懷協會理事長。

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2 Responses

  1. michael woods

    It is insane to allow transgender athletes masquerade as women in women sports, especially physical ones like boxing. Transgender rights have nothing to do with female sports because they are a different category. If they want to have sports then they should compete in transgender sports; that would be fair. As justified as her story of persecution is, it has no relevance to female sports. I feel very sad for her suffering, but I also feel the pain of the female boxers crying in the Olympics after being beaten up by a ‘more male’ female. It’s insane to conflate ‘transgender rights’ as this article claims, with ‘female rights”.

  2. Sofia

    I’m for trans rights and firmly believe that there’s still a long way to go to ensure their physical safety and equal treatment in all aspects of society. However, the story of the two boxers has nothing to do with the issue. Both boxers were, as far as records show, born as cisgender women. The claim that the two underwent chromosome tests is just unconfirmed rumour and it’s unclear what the so-called “gender test” by the IBA entailed.

    Right wing figures have coopted the story for their own agenda without getting the facts straight. The debate about trans athletes should at least happen with all the facts straight and not in the context of a so-called “controversy” that has emerged as a result of an incompetent/corrupt sporting association.

    For those who are interested in a more detailed explanation of the controversy behind the IBA’s decision:

    https://www.badlefthook.com/2024/8/1/24211625/there-are-no-transgender-women-boxing-in-paris-olympic-boxing-news-2024

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