Just wondering where’s a good spot someone can find other members of the LGBTQ community. I was told to go to Red House in XiMenDing last time, but it looked very lacking in gays. Granted it was also during the day…
The old Sogo store at Zhongxiao Fuxing
Hi jademushroom, and welcome to Forumosa! 
There is one thread on Lesbian Hang-outs in Taipei, so for the L part you might start there. I’m not aware of a thread on the remaining ‘letters’ so perhaps this will be the start of it.
Forgive me, what does the ‘Q’ refer to? I have not seen this before.
As far as I know the Q stands for “queer” or “questioning”.
The Red Theater area is pretty damn
[color=#4000FF]G[/color][color=#FF00FF]A[/color][color=#FFFF00]Y[/color]
. Of course you need to try it at night.
Haven’t been to a lesbian bar for years, but they are out there.
As far as gay bars go, I enjoy Fresh. Pretty quiet during the week, but all the floors will be open on Friday and Saturday. There are lots of big clubs which mainly cater to the gay crowd, but I like Fresh 'cos you can dance but can also just chill out in one of the small lounges or on the balcony.
Hello, I’m not sure which part of the LGBTQ letter crowd you’re from, I’ll just assume you’re the G since someone recommended you to the Red House, sadly in Taiwan the LGBTQ crowd does not mingle as a whole but rather separately.
The Red House, or Ximending in general, during the day it is filled with junior high school kids, but at night the outdoor plaza is filled with men.
There’s a LGBTQ bookstore called Gin Gin Bookstore, and about two doors away there’s H*ours Cafe, a coffee shop with plenty of happy gay men every time I passed by.
I once been to a supposedly LGBTQ-friendly coffee shop near ShiDa nightmarket called 米倉, but even with that giant rainbow flag hanging next to the door, all the patrons inside looked really straight to me, even at night.
Sorry I cannot be more helpful, but you can try the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline, I believe they do provide such information, if you can’t speak Chinese fluently ask a friend to call in for you
Hey all, thanks for the responses!
I’m a bisexual female actually, and I’d just like to get a feel for the community. Not looking for date/hookup/relationship (I’m attached), just friends. I’m also a gay rights activist so any point in the right direction on what should be done in Taiwan would be nice too. I’m never happy unless i’m helping/fighting for people.
@naijeru Q tends to stand for Queer, which is both used on it’s own gender identity, or as an umbrella term for the sexual and gender minorities as a whole, since LGBTQ usually isn’t seen as encompassing of the entire community. I think some more letters goes LGBTQIAATSBQC… [thinks for a bit] we call it an alphabet soup for a reason…
Welcome to Forumosa by the way, jademushroom!
Is918 was right in sending you in the direction of Gin Gin’s Bookstore. I think the owner is quite involved in the rights movement. You will find lots of brochures about events and organizations (as well as some business cards for lesbian and gay hang-outs). Unfortunately, the link to the website doesn’t seem to be working, but the info I can find is:
[quote]1/F No. 8, Alley 8, Lane 210, Roosevelt Road, Section 3,
中正區羅斯福路三段210巷8弄8號1樓
Vicinity:
Zhongzheng
Directions:
Close to Taipower Building MRT station
Contact:
2364-2006
[/quote]
ginginbooks.com
Open:
11am-10pm daily
If you do go to Fresh (the club mentioned before), you’ll probably feel quite relaxed. It’s mostly gay guys, but women and non-homophobic straight guys feel quite comfortable there. Ask for Weber, the owner, and ask him for ideas about the LGBTQ community. He probably knows all there is to know.
Just to echo Threadkiller and ls918, for the gay scene definitely check out all the bars behind the Red House after dark.
My friend Yasmine and I stopped by for a drink one night and it was a blast, our waiter (he works at Cafe Dalida) was a riot. Definitely hilarious, plus their drinks were really good to top it off. = )
Hope you find everything you are looking for! Sorry I can’t be more of a help! = )
I’d really like to find out some day time stuff too… I live in Shulin/Sanxia, which is really out of the city. So I probably can’t go out at night at all, at least, until I learn how to drive.
Try Gin Gin’s. The assistant at the bookstore will no doubt be able to inform you of any LGBTQ activities.
Can’t think of any gay bars/ coffee shops (or straight ones for that matter) that will be rocking during the day. People (even non-heterosexuals) have jobs.
[quote=“jademushroom”]
I’m a bisexual female actually, and I’d just like to get a feel for the community. Not looking for date/hookup/relationship (I’m attached), just friends. I’m also a gay rights activist so any point in the right direction on what should be done in Taiwan would be nice too. I’m never happy unless I’m helping/fighting for people. [/quote]
Oh, in that case, you can check out discovery channel’s special on Taiwan’s gay rights/culture issue: 彩虹大道, they interviewed some of the biggest influential people in the movement.
you can find the entire episode on youtube, but no English subtitles though.
Since you can only come to Taipei during the day, GinGin bookstore is the place to go, there’s also a lot of LGBT organizations among universities campus now.
you can also try www.twpride.net pretty sure pride could use some help, or at least point you to the right direction. 
[quote=“HeyPharaoh”]Just to echo Threadkiller and ls918, for the gay scene definitely check out all the bars behind the Red House after dark.
My friend Yasmine and I stopped by for a drink one night and it was a blast, our waiter (he works at Cafe Dalida) was a riot. Definitely hilarious, plus their drinks were really good to top it off. = )
[/quote]
Yep, highly recommended area - even for (non-homophobic) straights. Just a great area to relax, have nice drinks (or even Alleycat’s pizza), enjoy outdoor seating without nearby traffic. Heck, even my 70+yo parents enjoyed it 
Hi Jademushroom, nice to meet you. I’m also new myself here. I identify as lesbian and hope to come to Taiwan this fall. Id also love to learn more about the scene and general workings of the LGBTQ community. Let me know if you get any more leads!
Go on Facebook. Look for a club called Taboo. Pretty cool dance club…girls only. ALso look for Lezsmeeting…another cool group that throws parties. You can also find GinGins on facebook…That Red Square is PUMPING with gay men…and some lesbians .but always at night.
If others on this board could help me out, but I believe Shulin is only about a 40 minute train ride away from all the action. That’s not very far at all.
“Girls only” is not entirely true (maybe depends on the day of the week?), as I found out yesterday when some friends took me there 
Ok, I must admit I am not sure if I was the only guy there… there might or might not have been more. Actually a pretty nice place. Less drunk male assholes, fewer super slutty dressing ugly girls. Very young crowd as far as I can tell, and the music is not 100% what I like (OK, there are not too many metal clubs around anyway).
yeah, mainly girls though, boys need to be with at least 2 girls to get in and they need to pay more. You should have gone to Back to Spin last nite. My ears are still burning from NIN.
Taboo is nice if you want to meet gay girls, but you have to pay for seating so it’s a little wierd to stand around by yourself…nice to go with at least one more person if you’re a newbie.
[quote=“Battery9”]yeah, mainly girls though, boys need to be with at least 2 girls to get in and they need to pay more. You should have gone to Back to Spin last night. My ears are still burning from NIN.
Taboo is nice if you want to meet gay girls, but you have to pay for seating so it’s a little wierd to stand around by yourself…nice to go with at least one more person if you’re a newbie.[/quote]
Ah I see, makes sense that they don’t want single or groups of guys in there 
Anyway… Spin? I never heard of that (Ive only been only here for 3 years though), but googling it only yielded 2002-5ish things, with the last post on Forumosa I found mentioning “spin” being closed. I wouldn’t mind at all treating my ears to a bit of NIN once in a while though. Can you please give me some hints where this place is?