Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association

Workers of the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association during the Taiwan Pride 2005 march, dressed in shiny skirts.

Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association (TTHA, 台灣同志諮詢熱線協會) is an organization providing people (especially LGBT) with peer counseling, support networks, and a community resource center.

It is a joint effort of 4 LGBT and gender issue-concerning groups, established in 1980.

Services and Activities

TTHA's tasks focus on counseling, cultural events, and the protection of LGBT rights.

As part of its work, TTHA has been supporting the promotion of gender equality education in Taiwan, notably through the inclusion of gay rights and sexual orientation topics in new curriculum for elementary and junior high school.[1] By teaching youths about diversity in sexual orientation, TTHA and other like-minded organizations hope to enhance understanding and respect.[2] TTHA also ties this to efforts to stem bullying in schools, which is often based on prejudices and stereotypes towards gender or sexual orientation. However, inclusion of sexual orientation-related topics in school curriculum has met with opposition, and TTHA and other gender and gay rights advocacy groups recently have had to file a slander suit against a group stating that gender equality curriculum would promote "sexual openness" and same-sex marriage.[3]

References

  1. Lin, Hermia. "Young students need gender equality education in Taiwan: groups", Central News Agency - Focus Taiwan. May 12, 2011.
  2. Lee, James. "Groups call for gay-friendly laws, gender equality education", Central News Agency - Focus Taiwan. May 16, 2011.
  3. Loa, Lok-Sin. "Gender, gay rights groups file slander suit in Taipei", Taipei Times. May 13, 2011.


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 3/10/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.