InterPride Caved to PRC on WorldPride 2025 Taiwan
#141
Welcome to Third Cultured, a newsletter about Queer people in diplomacy, politics, and war from the perspective of Kyle Borland (he/they). My goal is to highlight all the ways today is different (and not so) from yesterday.
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This edition:
Opinion Essay
A List of LGBTQ+ Wins
Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws/Violence in the US and around the world
Monkeypox and Gay/Bi Men’s Public Health
Links, Quotes & Gay Shit
Opinion Essay
If there was ever any doubt that LGBTQ+ rights play a role in 21st Century geopolitics, look at Friday’s drama around WorldPride 2025 Taiwan.
InterPride, the organizer of World Pride, has for months been putting pressure on their chosen 2025 hosts – Kaohsiung, Taiwan – to drop the word “Taiwan” from the official name of the event. Unless you’ve been purposefully ignoring the news the past couple of weeks, it should come as no surprise that China has spun itself into a renewed frenzy over Taiwan. (Famously, Beijing does not recognize Taipei’s independence and forces all entities from the US to the Solomon Islands to the World Pride organization to kowtow to its delusions about the self-governing island.)
Unfortunately for Taiwan, the PRC was yet again successful at obtaining that treasured subservience. InterPride wants to achieve UN consultative status and China has massive influence in the UN, being a veto-having permanent member of the UN Security Council. On top of its structural advantages, China has been on a tear in recent years to leverage the UN to expand its influence (aka beat the US at its own game). This has come at Taiwan’s expense since one of the PRC’s main requirements for economic investment and political engagement is to secure fealty to its desired outcome of “the Taiwan question.” Today, only 13 countries – Belize, Haiti, Vatican City, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Tuvalu and Guatemala – recognize Taiwan as an independent country.
Rather than cave to InterPride’s demands, Taiwan understandably cancelled World Pride 2025 amidst this diplomatic slide. Taiwan is the most Queer-friendly place in Asia, being the first nation to recognize same-sex marriage, and World Pride 2025 would have been the first held in Asia. The government in Taipei condemned InterPride for allowing politics to contaminate the event’s planning and hindering the advancement of regional diversity and equality.
"Taiwan deeply regrets that InterPride, due to political considerations, has unilaterally rejected the mutually agreed upon consensus and broken a relationship of cooperation and trust," Taipei's foreign ministry said in a statement.
"Not only does the decision disrespect Taiwan's rights and diligent efforts, it also harms Asia's vast LGBTIQ+ community."
Not only is Taiwan the vanguard of LGBTQIA+ equality in Asia, but mainland China is actively forcing its burgeoning Queer community back into the closet as the government sees queerness as a Western influence that’s infiltrating Chinese society. So, not only is China in the midst of one of its largest temper tantrums in decades, but the PRC is targeting its own people toward some twisted slight at the US/the West.
Given these circumstances, it’s deplorable that InterPride chose access to the UN over solidarity with our Queer family in Taiwan. LGBTQIA+ liberation does not stop at our home borders. We are Queer people and the way the world’s governments have and continue to target us shows just how much power they know we have. A huge aspect of wielding that power is never breaking rank. InterPride failed Taiwan, and us.
Stay safe and healthy, beautiful people.
As always, thanks for reading.
Kyle (@kgborland)
PS – You’re going to see a lot of news today about the one-year anniversary of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, so I wanted to highlight this article shedding a light on some of the Queer Afghans who were able to get out and those who still remain.
‘I miss my family’: LGBTQ+ Afghans who fled Taliban on life one year since fall of Kabul (Gay Times)
A List of LGBTQ+ Wins
15 States Have Backed a Suit Challenging Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” Law (them)
Becca Balint likely to become first LGBTQ person & first woman to represent Vermont in Congress (LGBTQ Nation)
Being gay is not a disease, Vietnam tells its medical workers in bid to end anti-LGBTQ discrimination (CBS News)
Brands Made a Ton of Promises to the LGBTQ+ Community This Summer. Have Any Delivered? (Money)
CA Gov. Newsom names 1st queer female judge to state's supreme court (Bay Area Reporter)
Federal Court rules for Trans West Virginia Medicaid participants (LA Blade)
Florida Democrats Rescind Support Over Candidate’s Anti-LGBTQ History (The Advocate)
How ‘Bakla’ Explains the Struggle for Queer Identity in the Philippines (Foreign Policy)
Number of LGBTQ Asian American and Pacific Islander political candidates has doubled. (NBC News)
Residents raise almost $100,000 for Michigan library defunded over LGBTQ books (NBC News)
Summer primaries mostly favor LGBTQ candidates (Bay Area Reporter)
Trans candidate Leigh Finke wins Minnesota state House primary setting up historic candidacy (LGBTQ Nation)
Anti-LGBTQ+ Laws/Violence in the US & around the world
1 in 8 LGBTQ People Live Where They Can Be Denied Medical Care (Metro Weekly)
After 'Don't Say Gay' bill passed, anti-LGBTQ 'grooming' rhetoric surged 400% online (NBC News)
After ‘Thor’ and ‘Lightyear,’ Malaysia Government Commits to Banning More LGBT Films (Variety)
Battle over LGBTQ books at rural Iowa town's public library (ABC Omaha)
Biden administration said schools risk losing nutrition assistance funding if they discriminate against LGBTQ students. Republicans are suing. (MSNBC)
Conservatives sue school for refusing to out transgender students (LGBTQ Nation)
DeSantis’s War on LGBTQ People Is Essential to His Agenda (The New Republic)
As with Orbán, DeSantis’s anti-LGBTQ stance is sometimes framed as merely being in service to the more central goal of amassing a right-wing base. Yet it’s clear: he has already put LGBTQ people in the crosshairs of members of that base—in political debate, in public spaces, and in private life. Marginalizing and criminalizing people for being queer or trans is not just fueling DeSantis’s agenda; these acts are essential to it, to the kind of world he promises his base, one that comes into closer focus each day. At least some of his supporters see it plainly: on July 23, they carried “DeSantis Country” flags alongside swastika flags outside the Turning Point USA conference in Tampa, where the governor spoke the day before. To date, he has not condemned them.
Drag exploded in popularity. Then came the protests and attacks. (WaPo)
Employer suing for “religious freedom” to drop PrEP coverage complains about bad publicity (LGBTQ Nation)
‘Flee Texas’ service launches to help LGBTQ people leave state (Concho Valley)
Gay couple attacked by teens calling them “monkeypox f****ts” (LGBTQ Nation)
GOP operative wants LGBTQ community put in “isolation camps for their own protection” (LGBTQ Nation)
Hate groups are registering as churches now. 40 Congressmembers want the IRS to investigate. (LGBTQ Nation)
How Gay Men Are Targeted By Corrupt Police in Zambia (The Advocate)
How Sinema subverts the radical conventions of queer politics (WaPo)
“I Don’t Want to Change Myself” Anti-LGBT Conversion Practices, Discrimination, and Violence in Malaysia (Human Rights Watch)
‘I see myself in her’: Brittney Griner’s Russia trial resonates with queer Black women and nonbinary people (19th News)
‘I’m just trying to make the world a little brighter’: how the culture wars hijacked Drag Queen Story Hour (The Guardian)
LGBT Soldiers in Ukraine – Fighting for Their Homeland, Their Rights (VOA)
Librarian sues for defamation after conservative activist attacks over LGBTQ books (The Hill)
Massive Rise in Anti-LGBTQ Hate Crime Reports in UK (Vice)
Meet the gay former GOP spokesman who is spilling the tea on the Republican Party (LGBTQ Nation)
Multiracial LGBTQ youth more likely to consider suicide (Axios)
My Queer Family vs. the Supreme Court – If SCOTUS comes for marriage equality next, will I still be considered my son’s mother? (The Cut)
Newly elected DA suggested prosecuting librarians for “inappropriate” books (LGBTQ Nation)
Police probing DC attack as hate crime after suspects used anti-LGBTQ slur, mentioned monkeypox (The Hill)
School district slaps warning labels on books with LGBTQ characters (LGBTQ Nation)
Trans Twitch Streamer Keffals Was Swatted in a Horrific Attack (them)
Vicious online attacks won’t silence voices in Canadian media (Toronto Star)
Virginia Governor wants to force teachers to out students to parents (LGBTQ Nation)
Monkeypox and Gay/Bi Men’s Public Health
11,177 – Total confirmed monkeypox/orthopoxvirus cases
‘Absolutely ridiculous’: LGBT leaders vent frustration over lack of access to monkeypox antiviral drug Tecovirimat (SF Chronicle)
As monkeypox cases climb and vaccine is in short supply, some Texas cities declare an emergency (Texas Tribune)
Biomedical Racism, Queer Theory, and the Monkeypox Epidemic (The Intercept)
Colleges warn students about monkeypox risk as fall term approaches (WaPo)
Gay men in India refusing testing, treatment over fear of being outed (Pink News)
Health officials walk fine line as monkeypox swells within LGBT community (The Hill)
Monkeypox may be here to stay (Politico)
MPX update A wound is healing (Indigiqueer Confidential)
On Sunday James wrote some emails to our public officials, and I did the same. My asks were:
Increase testing beyond men who have sex with men, but also make it much more widely available for MSM.
Increase access to Tpoxx because it alleviates many of the symptoms that people are having, even the ones that have to do with bowel movements and proctitis. And it also helps clear the lesions so people don’t have to isolate for so long. (For example, we need people to be able to get a prescription quickly and easily. Lots of people I know haven’t even been able to see their PCP because of backlogs, and so are spending weeks with really terrible symptoms.)
Increase access to the MPX vaccine. This is obvious, and it is insane that we have yet to implement a full scale vaccine distribution plan.
Rightwing media embraces Aids-era homophobia in monkeypox coverage (The Guardian)
Unfiltered Faces of Monkeypox – Men and women with monkeypox share their stories on social media, to fight stigma and demand more action. (NYTimes)
'Viruses Show Us That We Are Connected' (Discourse Blog)
We’re making the same mistake with monkeypox that we made with HIV/AIDS (WaPo)
With support on monkeypox hard to come by, queer communities turn to one another (STAT)
Links, Quotes & Gay Shit
A Black, Queer Marvel: Shea Couleé Joins the Cast of Ironheart (Medium)
Bama Rush: Where University of Alabama sororities stand on LGBTQ inclusion (AL.com)
Farewell, Olivia Newton-John: Why We Honestly Loved Her (Rolling Stone, The NYTimes)
Fuck Puritanism, Or, how Marx predicted Tenderqueers (Mental Health)
How Toxic Is Masculinity? (The New Yorker)
Porn and men's problems (Sex and the State)
Radical Lesbians and Active Desire: On Rita Mae Brown and the Lesbian Political Movement (LitHub)
Rejecting Christian Nationalism Is What Jesus Would Do (Daily Beast)
Science says bachelorette parties are destroying LGBTQ safe spaces (LGBTQ Nation)