An award-winning transgender author from Taiwan is suing critics who won’t refer to him as a woman and lesbian. Li Kotomi has been quick to go to court or strike back over what Li considers incorrect gender identification, Reduxx reported Wednesday.
Reduxx posted on X: “A trans-identified male author from Taiwan is suing multiple critics for saying that men cannot be lesbians. Li Kotomi, who has won several literary awards, has also pursued criminal charges against those who state he was born male.”
Li is a well-known writer in Japan and Taiwan and although born a male, considers himself to be a woman and a lesbian. Much of Li’s work focuses on relationships, sexual and otherwise, between women. Li received the important literary Akutagawa Prize for the novel “Island Where the Red Spider Lilies Bloom”
The novel is about relationships between young female characters and relies heavily on the activities of 17-year-old Umi, who joins a small society headed by women priests called the Noro who rule an island. After learning a new language from the Noro, Umi meets Yona, another teenage girl, and the two engage in a lot of conversations and a strong relationship.
Critics of Li say the author delves into feminist and lesbian plots throughout his works without publicly acknowledging his biological sex and while masquerading as a lesbian. Li has responded to the criticism with defamation lawsuits that demand lucrative awards. The author has worked with Taiwan’s most visible trans lobby group, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR).
The TAPCPR wants to change the law in Taiwan to make it easier for transgender people to simply declare themselves to be another sex. Current laws do not allow individuals to change their gender on identification documents merely on a whim but insist it must be based on substantive medical criteria. The change in the law would cancel the need for two psychiatrists attesting to an individual’s gender dysphoria or a doctor’s letter stating that the person has undergone a sex change operation.
Right now, there is little popular support to change the law, Reduxx noted. Li began accumulating lawsuit money in 2023 when Li was convinced Li was the victim of “slander” and started accepting donations from supporters. “It all started when I won the Akutagawa Prize in July 2021,” Li wrote in a 2023 blog post. “Since winning the award, I have been subjected to a great deal of slander. Personal attacks against me, discriminatory remarks, low-level insults and name-calling, as well as rumors and misinformation were spread mainly on social media.”
