“Her first step into her first floor apartment was into a puddle of water. Everything was wet: furniture, photos, poems, journals, her shoes. The water lines on her walls marked the flood waters at a foot and a half.”

Taiwan’s ruling made me curious about how the news was being received by LGBTQ people across Asia. Did they too face cultural and institutional oppression against their gender and sexuality, or were their countries more accepting? Would the ruling have any impact on their livelihoods? Is Taiwan an inspiration for their leaders to consider marriage equality or LGBTQ rights overall, or will it not matter as much? I set out to find out by reaching out to LGBTQ activists in 42 Asian countries.

As long as queer kids are taking their own lives, as long as young lesbians are told that their crushes on other girls are just fleeting feelings that all straight girls have and as long as trans girls as young as age 6 are treated as sexual deviants who shouldn’t be allowed to use the bathroom, we’re going to need representation in all-ages media.

“We never ask young people what they are willing to sacrifice to make the world better and that’s one of the biggest problems in this country.”

How far is our group from that fever pitch of anger and refusal to wait any longer that brings things –and people like Dan Choi — to a boil? It’s the most painful point of all. But also, potentially, the most sad and the most powerful. A look at Dan Choi’s Village Voice cover story, “Bad Lieutenant.”

“It took me a very long time to come to terms with what I felt for girls. Not because of my own religion, but because of the religion and judgment of others, and because growing up in such a small town greatly limits what you see as viable options for yourself.”