A Safe Harbor for Gay Teens: “Adju” Networks in High Schools in Southern Taiwan
“Yeah,… yeah, twist!” Li-mao instructed with excitement while demonstrating how to do the figure 8 hand motions. On one side, Xiao-xu saw how we were twisting our hands awkwardly, and began showing us how to do the gestures as well. Then, Xiao-xu spotted a beginner who completed their first figure 8 hand-turn successfully and exclaimed: “You got it! You got it!” The heavy atmosphere was broken in an instant and everyone became excited to learn this unique voguing gesture. “Hey, I did it!” Everyone cheered happily, and the classroom was filled with laughter and shrieks, changing the mood instantly from just a few minutes ago.
On this day, three high school students, Xiao-xu, Li-mao and Kai-kai, were interviewed at a high school in southern Taiwan (hereafter referred to as P High School) amidst a lively atmosphere.
On campus, Li-mao and Kai-kai are both very open about expressing their homosexuality through their clothes, movements, and speech.
Kai-kai feels no need to hide the fact that he is gay, and will tell his classmates if they asked. Li-mao, on the other hand, is loudly and regularly open about his gay identity, so his classmates already know without asking.
Despite the fact that they don’t think twice about revealing their gay identities on campus, none of the three have actually come out to their own families. Their only choice seems to be hiding this side of themselves in the closet….
If there are risky undercurrents in the safe harbor of “home,” how do schools support gay students?
All three feel free to be themselves at school. Whether it is their outward behavior or daily conversation, it is in stark contrast to the repression they feel at home. What led the campus to becoming a safety net that supports these gay high school students?
Is it because of the poster from one of the fundamental NGOs for LGBT rights, Taiwan Tongzhi (LGBTQ+) Hotline Association, outside of the Mathematics Department Office in P High School? Or is it that the Student Counselling Office sent a text message to students not to be discouraged despite the unfavorable outcome of the two LGBT rights referendums in 2018 in Taiwan? In between their words, there lay more clues. “P High School is the friendliest campus among Taiwan.” Xiao-xu believes that “The more north, the more close-minded.” This is contrary to many’s assumption toward Pingtung, but also illustrates the friendly atmosphere P High School provides for gay individuals.
The other two students feel that most of their peers were friendly. Their classmates did not change their attitudes after finding out about their gay identity — even students who used to dislike gay people have since accepted them.
Two years ago, many high school students who did not have the rights to vote felt a strong sense of powerlessness about the unfavorable referendum outcome for same-sex marriage rights and gender equality education. The value of “Supporting LGBT Rights” found a lot of sympathizers in high schools. Some students even put up the rainbow flag inside their classrooms. The student union also hoped that the rainbow flag could be raised during sport events to demonstrate a friendly attitude from student peers to the LGBT community.
Also, there are friendly environments set up in the school that bring warmth to gay students. All of the students interviewed this time came from the same social club. Kai-kai joined the club partly because he knew that many gay students were in the club. “Are you talking about that chorus club? Ha ha,” said Li-mao with a laugh when asked about gay hangouts in this Southern Taiwan city. Many campuses have several clubs with a large number of gay members. Clearly, after-school social clubs is an important place for high school gay students to find each other.
In addition to social clubs, P High School also has a special community that doesn’t have clear boundaries like a social club. Instead, this “Adju Community”is formed by the power of “radar”.
The gay community culture of “You are not Adju, you go away”
In addition to the friendly environment mentioned above, P High School has also developed a gay culture unique to Southern Taiwan — the Adju Culture.
Originally, in the Taiwanese Indigenous Paiwan tribal language, “adju” meant “sisters” or “girlfriends”, referring to women. Slowly, its meaning has evolved and now refers to “feminine gay men”. Perhaps it was an indigenous student who inadvertently introduced the term Adju into P High School. Gradually, Adju is no longer used only by indigenous people; it has spread to Han people and other ethnic groups in Taiwan.
However, the term “Adju” seems to be more commonly used in the south. In Tainan City, which is located in the south, there are schools with these types of social clubs. But, in cities north of Taichung, the term “Adju” is seldom used.
After the interview came to a stop, everyone seemed to feel a little awkward about the silence. Kai-kai thought that the interview was over, and the three of them spontaneously began “Adju gossip hour”. Kai-kai shooed away anyone approaching: “You are not Adju, you go away.” They created a small space of their own and secluded themselves from non-Adju people, seemingly forgetting our existence — that small world is only for them.
In the middle of gossiping, Xiao-xu shared a story, a story that mentioned the “rear view” of some guy. He didn’t need to finish, all the Adju’s seemed to know who that guy was in the story. Clearly, their information network is highly developed.
“If you tell a secret in front of Adju, then all the Adju’s would know.” Evidently, members of the Adju social club are tightly knit and have a strong connection with each other.
In addition to the friendly attitudes that school and classmates offer gay students, we suspect that social groups provide an environment where gay students may communicate with their peers. Perhaps it is due to the existence of the Adju social group that gay students in P High School are able to express themselves, and discover empowerment of their selves, which is bottled-up inside their families, to become liberated on campus. Looking at the interactions between Xiao-xu, Li-mao and Kai-kai, “Adju” is a form of comradery , giving gay students on campus a sense of belonging. Just like a pair of arms that provides shelter from the rain, offering a safety net to carry repressed-at-home high school gay students, and providing fortified embraces to these minorities is a form of bravery.
Other articles in this issue
Daping Reading: A Gender-responsive Community in Rural Area in Taiwan
Hoping to bring more attention to hometown, local students form Daping Reading community dig into diverse regional issues with a gender lens, as well as empowering themselves throughout the journey.
The Ordinary Schooling Path of a Girl with Cerebral Palsy
Fully supported from school and family, a girl with cerebral palsy make her own way out of the definition and “destiny” of her disability through earnest studying and empowerment.
This article was originally written in Chinese by participants of Daping Reading Community, Yu-He Dai, Tzu-Hsing Shih, Ling-En Li, Yu-Jen Huang, Chang-Yue Chung, and Jing-Han Chan, who were high school students at the time of completion of the article.
