More than 2,400 professors, students, and others have signed an international petition to support a sexologist in Taiwan who may be imprisoned for two years and dismissed from her university if she is found guilty of breaking the island's obscenity laws.
The petition was organized by the Taiwan Gender/Sexuality Rights Association, among other advocacy groups, in response to a legal complaint filed in late June against Josephine Ho, a tenured English professor and founder of the Center for the Study of Sexualities at National Central University. Approximately 400 of the signatures have come from abroad.
The legal complaint was filed in the Taipei City High Court by the Republic of Taiwan's Publication Appraisal Foundation, a nonprofit organization, on behalf of several education, child-advocacy, and religious groups in the country. The complaint asserts that the center's Web page, which is run by Ms. Ho, contained a hyperlink to another Web site that displayed detailed pictures of bestiality. That link could be punishable under a law, designed to protect children, that forbids individuals to post obscenities on the Internet.
"We respect academic freedom, if it is done in a classroom or if you have a fire wall on your Web site," said Hsu Wen-pin, the foundation's chief director. "But [what Ms. Ho posted] was available for anyone to look at." The group has lobbied for warning labels on certain reading materials.
For her part, Ms. Ho said she had included the link as part of an online databank of research on various forms of sexual activity that are often considered deviant and perverse. The databank, which Ms. Ho said was the island's only Web site "that provided a wealth of scholarly discussion on various sexualities," was removed from the Internet in April after the Good Shepherd Sisters Foundation, one of the plaintiffs, denounced the site in the island's newspapers.
Even though the databank has been removed, Mr. Hsu said the plaintiffs had decided to press forward with the complaint, to ensure that Ms. Ho is prosecuted. The plaintiffs are not seeking compensatory damages. At a hearing scheduled for September 23, a judge will decide whether or not to proceed with the case. If Ms. Ho is found guilty, she could face a two-year prison term or a $30,000 fine.
Jimmy Jue, a top official at National Central University, said that if Ms. Ho were found guilty, the university could take disciplinary action, including possibly dismissing her despite her tenure.
"We have supported her basic research," said Mr. Jue. "As a rule, we support all of our professors. But it doesn't mean that there are no limits to what you can do."
Critics of Ms. Ho have denounced her as an extremist who advocates bestiality. Ms. Ho said that some of the plaintiffs in the case have been trying to damage her reputation for several years because of her support for the rights of underage prostitutes and her research into transsexual and transgender subjects.
The groups that filed the legal complaint believe that "if you're not condemning something, that means you're in support of it," said Ms. Ho. "It's a travesty against our basic human rights to be prosecuted for not holding on to a mainstream, moralist viewpoint."
兩千四百餘位教授、研究生和其他人士已經簽名連署聲援台灣一位性學家，如果法律判定這位性學家違反了台灣的反色情法律，那麼她就有可能入獄兩年，而且被她任教的大學辭退。
因應中央大學性／別研究室創始人何春蕤教授在6月被告發違法，台灣性別人權協會與其他社運團體發起了這項連署。其中至少有400多個簽名來自國際社群。
中華民國出版品評議基金會以及數個教育、婦幼、宗教團體向台北地方法院提出告發。告發狀指出，何春蕤設置的中央大學性／別研究室網頁包含了一個超連結，可以連到展示獸交圖片的網頁。刑法禁止個人在網路上張貼色情，為了保護兒童，這個連結可能會使何教授入罪。
「如果是在教室裡教學或是網站上有防火牆，我們是尊重學術自由的」，出版品評議基金會的許文彬理事長說，「但是何教授張貼的圖片是人人都可以看到的。」這個基金會也正在遊說出版品分級立法。
何教授說，這個連結是她設置的性態網路資料庫的一部份，其中大部分的性態都被視為是偏差或變態的。何教授說這個網路資料庫是島上唯一「提供豐富學術討論性態」的網站，但是在天主教善牧基金會公開在媒體上譴責這個網站後已經移除。
雖然資料庫已經移除，許文彬說告發團體還是決定採取行動以確保何教授會被起訴，告發團體並不要求損害賠償。9月23日檢察官將決定是否要起訴何教授。如果最後判定有罪，她可能面對兩年的刑期以及一百萬罰鍰。
中央大學的高層行政人員朱建民說，如果何教授被判有罪，校方將採取懲罰性的處置，包括將她去職。
「我們支持她的基本研究」，朱建民說，「原則上，我們支持我們所有的老師。但是這並不表示什麼都可以做。」
批評何教授的人譴責她是鼓吹獸交的激進份子。何教授則說，有一些告發團體中多年來就想要破壞她的名譽，只因為她支持援交的青少女以及她在變性和跨性別方面的研究。
何教授指出，告發團體相信「只要不譴責就表示你支持」獸交。「只因為個人沒有順從主流的道德觀而被起訴，這將是對人權的嚴重侵犯。」