Chen and Dean chilling with their dogs on their day off, Taichung, Taiwan, 2019 ‘Once my parents asked me why I either seldom went home when I was off, or I only took man home. I told them, ‘This is it, he’s my partner. If you accept it, you will have one more son; if you don’t, you will lose two.’ In my opinion, homosexuality is normal, but they were probably worried about how society perceived us, or that it might affect my career. I told them that I was out since junior high school, and I was also out in the military. The officers even asked me to consult other gay people, they thought I knew better than them; they asked me to bridge.’ Chen Chen (left) and Dean met each other on Facebook through friends of friends. They opened a tea shop that they built and run together in Taichung. They also own a mobile phone shop in the same building, and have their bedroom on the top floor. 
They got married on the 18th May, the day after same sex marriage got legalized in Taiwan. It got a lot of attention from the media, and they wanted to get married to show society it was normal. They told me that if not for this, they would probably not have gotten married as they don’t need to prove their love. Photo by Su Cassiano/Middle East Images/ABACAPRESS.COM