Miao Poya

Miao Poya (; born 2 October 1987) is a Taiwanese politician and activist for humanitarianism, anti-death penalty, social feminism, LGBT rights and Taiwanese independence, also known for being one of Taiwan's first-ever openly lesbian council members. She was elected as councillor representing Taipei City District 6 during the 2018 local elections.

Early life and education Miao was born as a second generation in a waishengren family at the time when the long Martial Law period ended in 1987, She attended Jingxin Elementary and Middle School and Taipei First Girls' High School. Miao studied law at National Taiwan University, where she began developing her political views away from her pro-government family.

Miao first ran for office in the 2016 Taiwanese legislative elections, after having joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP) during its formation, and with the support of the SDP's founder Fan Yun. She failed to win, but gained 12.1% of the vote (21,000 votes) and was the most successful non-Blue and non-Green candidate.

Miao ran for city councilor in the 2018 Taiwanese local elections, again representing the SDP. Issues she advocated for include the protections for workers, the care for children and the elderly, and Taiwanese sovereignty and independence. She was elected, and thus became one of Taiwan's first openly lesbian council members, alongside Lin Ying-meng of the New Power Party.

Miao's candidacy for Taipei 6 in the 2024 legislative election was backed by the Social Democratic Party and the Democratic Progressive Party.

Miao was one of the activists who proposed a referendum in favor of same-sex marriage in Taiwan, and sympathizes with the democracy, freedom and human rights concern in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Tibet.

Legacy Supporting the languages development act

The 2018 Development of National Languages Act stipulates the government agencies to provide interpretation services when citizens participating in administrative, legislative, and judicial procedures can freely choose to use their national languages, so the Legislative Yuan activated the interpreter service for the parliament session in real time accordingly. On 27 September 2021, after following the steps to apply in advance with 3 Taiwanese interpreters been present ready, Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng rejected to speak Taiwanese, nor accepted the interpreter's real-time service at site, but brought the deputy minister Zong-hsiao Li as his own interpreter, and insisted in the 3-way translation pattern sentence by sentence. Chiu repeatedly interrupted the question process by asking Chen to speak Mandarin Chinese for easier communication, or the session time cannot be lengthened to accommodate the interpretation, Miao also explained that the multi-lingual working environment is essential for a healthy mind without the "Mandarin Supremacy" attitude to achieve the international level in diversity, equality and mutual respect for a modern state.