A Broad and Ample Road

A Broad and Ample Road

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A Broad and Ample Road
A Broad and Ample Road
Forgetting How to be Closeted

Forgetting How to be Closeted

A guest essay from Jeffrey Weng on coming out, or failing to come out, in Taiwan; plus, a book drive for mothers incarcerated in Taiwan & book club details

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Broad and Ample Road
Apr 15, 2023
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A Broad and Ample Road
A Broad and Ample Road
Forgetting How to be Closeted
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People in Taiwan celebrate after Taiwan’s legislature voted to legalize same-sex marriage in May 2017. Photo Credit: Carl Court, Getty Images

Dear all,

Hello, everyone! We’re back! We’ve been overwhelmed with family responsibilities, and we’ll share more about this with you soon.

Today we’re so glad to share a guest essay by Jeffrey Weng. We first met Jeff at Berkeley, where Albert studied, and over the years have kept in touch. Jeff arrived to Taiwan about 20 months ago, at almost exactly the same time we did. (This was back when the 15-day quarantine was mandated; we survived it in part by texting at odd hours in the night.)

In this observant, honest, and beautifully written essay, Jeff reflects on his move to Taiwan, a place where an “undercurrent of conservatism belies its happy surface.” How does it feel to come out—or as he puts it, fail to come out—after having spent an entire adult life being out in the United States? “People say that coming out is a lifelong process,” he writes…

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