r/news • u/Nimbkoll • 5h ago

Soft paywall Rare police raid of Taipei gay bar sparks angry protest

https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/rare-police-raid-taipei-gay-bar-sparks-angry-protest-2026-10-04/
440 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

35

u/Alleandros 4h ago

Damn Turkey arrested 162 in raids and now Taiwan.

145

u/Nimbkoll 5h ago

Oct. 3rd afternoon. They apprehended more than fifty patrons. Coerced everyone to not record with their phones, told people to kneel, and verbally abused a disabled patron. I saw the security cam footage at the door. Police officers in civilian clothes pushed the bouncer aside and stormed into the bar while screaming. If you didn't know, you would think there's a gang war.

The "public decency" excuse they used to conduct the raid was plain abuse of power. The bar raided is a fetish bar located in the basement, beyond a nondescript door with a small plaque that says "Commander D" on it.

I thought Taiwan is an oasis for sexual minorities, I can't believe this this hate crime level of treatment just happened. Nobody there did anything to harm others, queers don't deserve to be treated like violent criminals.

61

u/nerfedbeyblade 5h ago

People will find any poor excuse to justify hating on an entire demographic for no reason. Their excuses never hold, of course, but still.

12

u/abitcummy 1h ago

There's a municipal election in November. The Chinese Nationalists have always held Taipei. Taipei's mayor is the great grandson of the former Chinese president. Polls are showing he may loss. The city's population and especially those who will most likely vote for the current major is heavily skewed to the elderly. Raiding some gay bars on the grounds of 'moral decency' should help the party be reelected

1

u/aft3rthought 1h ago

Maybe the owner pissed off the wrong person in the police? Seems like either police corruption or a political move since this kind of raid isn’t typical.

2

u/abitcummy 1h ago

And it was against not 1, but 3 gay bars that night

49

u/the-jelly47 4h ago

KMT party who has the mayoral seat and controls the Taipei City Council, has always been leaning conservative. Not surprised at all. The mayoral election is happening next month and this is how they solidify their conservative base. DPP party is more pro-lgbt.

69

u/random20190826 5h ago

What the hell is happening? I am a Chinese Canadian and went to Taipei for a few days 2 years ago and LGBTQ stuff is everywhere out in the open and not "in the closet" (unlike China, which I also visited during the same trip). I always thought that Taiwan is the most socially liberal place in all of East Asia. This is very unacceptable and I am deeply disappointed.

39

u/DarkLiberator 3h ago

There's a nunber of factors. Taiwan is more conservative than people assume despite the big Pride marches and gay marriage being passed, but in general people just mind their own business and keep judgements to themselves.

Also its mayoral election season so some cops might get overzealous in enforcing bar laws. Allegedly they didn't have a warrant so its going to be a media storm and definitely become an issue in the city politics.

4

u/RGZReGZ 3h ago edited 2h ago

Also Canadian Hua'ren - if you are in Vancouver region, you know that it doesn't matter they are from among the three origins - they are conservative. And they have to carry some thinking from where they originally from.

Hell, as Canadian Hua'ren, had not the right wing judge one by the skin and assume one is CCP (eg: Theresa Watt was accused by former BC Conservative leader as CCP spy), most will be very comfortable among right wings.

Taiwan is most social liberal of East Asia, but let's be honest, it's only in a comparative spectrum.

•

u/JustConversation7847 18m ago

Reminder that the reason why Taiwan legalized gay marriage was for international political reasons, not because there was a majority of support for jt

•

u/the-jelly47 12m ago

Taiwanese voted 61% yes in a referendum for a special law to legalize same-sex marriage. You can’t be more wrong.

•

u/JustConversation7847 10m ago

https://pridesource.com/article/taiwan-voters-reject-same-sex-marriage-in-referendum

How does it feel to be wrong?

•

u/the-jelly47 6m ago

Two referendums happened on the same day in 2018. One for legalizing same-sex marriage through modifying the existing civil law, failed. The other one for legalizing same-sex marriage through a new special law, passed. You only did half of the research huh. You only know 50% of the fact, which makes you wrong.

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u/JustConversation7847 5m ago

A civil union is not a marriage, sorry bruv

Also it was 2017, how do you keep being wrong even with a news source spoon fed for you?

•

u/the-jelly47 3m ago

Can’t argue with someone who chooses to bury their head in the mud.

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u/JustConversation7847 2m ago

Can't argue with somebody who can't read