In 1997, when I was eighteen years old, I walked into Funky (gay bar) for the first time. I thought that on that day, I could finally enter a legal place of business with confidence. Unexpectedly, I encountered an inspection on the same day.
Taipei's well-known long-established gay bar "Funky" closed its operations in 2017. (File photo)
When the police came in, a wave of humiliation and fear quickly spread. Everyone was asked to squat down and put their hands on their heads, and then their bags and bodies were searched one by one.
In 1999, I accompanied a friend who was traveling north from Kaohsiung and wanted to experience Taipei’s nightlife, and we went to a non-gay-only dance club. I have forgotten the name of that dance hall.
I also encountered an inspection that day.
Girls were teased; almost all boys were handcuffed for no apparent reason; more feminine men were asked to take off their pants to "prove" whether they were boys.
My friend was literally ordered to take off his pants by the police. But he identifies as female. That day, he was wearing a pair of women's underwear. Several police officers mocked him on the spot, picked up his ID card and read out loud all the information on it.
That morning, he went back to the hotel...hanged himself and left.
Twenty-seven years have passed.
In the past few days, when I saw nightclubs in Taipei being searched, all the things I thought I had forgotten suddenly came back to me. I'm so sad. Because it is already 2026.
Wanhua police officers raided a gay bar "Commander D." on October 3. However, the enforcement process was rough and there were even rumors of insulting gays. (Photo by reporter Liu Qinghou)
How far have we come?
Back then, the police could ask us to squat, search, and humiliate us; today, in a city that claims to be diverse, progressive, and respectful of human rights, we can still hear the police saying to people with disabilities, "You can have sex even if you are disabled," and even law enforcement language such as "Who allowed you to speak?"
This is no longer just a matter of a certain policeman's "gaffe". When a person faces the police, what he faces is not the temper of a certain police officer, but the power granted to him by the entire police agency: search, interrogation, restraint, deportation, and the violence of the Beijing City Government that makes an ordinary person lose the ability to resist in an instant.
So far, the Taipei City Police Department has determined that some police officers have inappropriate words and deeds, and has punished relevant personnel and supervisors. Jiang Wanan also publicly expressed regret and apologized, asking the police department to review. But this matter cannot just stop at "apologizing" and a few people being reprimanded." Because political responsibility never equals personal punishment.
If police officers make mistakes, they can be given demerits and reprimands; but if the issue involves a city’s police culture, law enforcement procedures, supervision mechanisms, and basic respect for minority groups, then the head of the city government cannot just regard it as the personal misconduct of a few grassroots police officers.
Beicheng Police Chief Lin Yantian (middle) held a press conference on October 5, emphasizing that four colleagues had indeed made inappropriate remarks and had been punished immediately. (Photo by reporter Wang Guanren)
Ironically, Wan An considers himself a descendant of the Chiang family. But does he know how many deaths and sufferings the so-called "grandfather" left behind under the huge statue in the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall?
If you want to talk about Chiang Kai-shek, you can't just talk about his later authoritarian rule in Taiwan, nor can you just pick out the history that is beneficial to you. During World War II, China was one of the deadliest battlefields in the world. There are still different estimates of how many people died in China during the Sino-Japanese War from 1937 to 1945; more conservative modern studies estimate that at least 14 million people died, while other studies estimate the total death toll between 15 and 20 million.
Of course, not all of these deaths can be attributed to Chiang Kai-shek. Japan is the aggressor, and the large-scale massacres, bombings and war atrocities committed by the Japanese army against Chinese civilians are the core cause of this disaster. But this does not mean that the decisions made by the Chiang Kai-shek regime during the war can disappear from the historical books.
In 1938, in order to prevent the Japanese army from advancing westward, the National Revolutionary Army blew up the Yellow River embankment at Huayuankou, Henan. Floods rushed into Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu, causing large-scale disasters. Studies estimate that the years-long floods, caused by man-made levee breaches, killed more than 800,000 people and displaced nearly four million.
This was not killed by the Japanese army. This was a decision made by the Nationalist Government during the war for the purpose of military strategy. Of course you can say that it was resisting Japanese aggression at that time and it was a military decision made in an extreme war environment.
But if you want to portray Chiang Kai-shek as a pure "national savior" statue, you cannot only remember his resistance to Japan and forget those who were sacrificed by the country for "strategic needs."
Let’s not forget that Chiang Kai-shek’s regime continued its authoritarian rule in Taiwan for decades after the war. The February 28 Incident caused a large number of people to die; during the martial law and white terror periods, about 140,000 people were politically persecuted, and about 3,000 to 4,000 people were executed.
If we want to portray Chiang Kai-shek as a pure "national savior" statue, we cannot only remember his resistance to Japan and forget those who were sacrificed by the country for "strategic needs." (File photo)
And is Mr. Wan'an inheriting his surname, or is he inheriting a history that only allows the memory of achievements but does not allow the people to ask the price?
Going back to what happened in the past few days, "How are you going to prove that this is not an incident that ends with an apology?" - Should the police chief be held accountable, should the supervision system be reviewed, should the procedures for search, inspection and retrieval need to be re-examined? Does police education really include people with disabilities, sexual minorities and gender identities, instead of treating "respect for diversity" as a check-box item on the education and training chart?
How does the city government plan to make those who have been humiliated by public power trust the police again?
These are political responsibilities.
I even think that "should the mayor step down?" should not be an emotional slogan, but should become a political issue that can be tested:
If the city government can conduct a complete investigation, disclose the chain of responsibility, reform the system, establish an independent and credible complaint and supervision mechanism, and let citizens see that this incident will never happen again, then it is at least possible that political responsibility will be borne through reform and accountability.
But if in the end there is only a "very sorry" sentence, a few disciplinary documents, and all the problems are passed on to a few grassroots police officers, then the problem will no longer be just the personal responsibility of the police, but will return to the political responsibility of the chief of the city government.
Because public power does not belong to the police themselves. The power in the hands of the police is entrusted to him by the city government and the state.
The power in the hands of the police is entrusted to them by the city government and the state. Therefore, it is not only the police officers who are responsible, but the head of the city government must also bear political responsibility. (File photo)
The true civilization of a city has never been judged by whether it has a rainbow flag, whether it has a gay parade, or whether it has a policy declaration that says "diversity and tolerance." But look at how much dignity that person has left when a person in uniform forces an ordinary person into a corner.
Twenty-nine years ago, I was eighteen years old.
I thought we would go further. Just, no.
Today in 2026, I have to question again our best city, Taipei City. We also have to question the mayor's academic background, height, and last name - all of these may be fake.
