THE TAIWAN People’s Party (TPP), which was formed by Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je in 2019, has been hit with a round of criticism due to the party’s ties with the Greater Taipei Stability Power Alliance (GTSPA). The GTSPA is an anti-gay group that played a key role in organizing the 2018 national referendum against gay marriage. After participating in 2020 legislative elections as a political party, the GTSPA has to date been unsuccessful in securing any seats in the Taiwanese legislature, but it is a party broadly affiliated with the pan-Blue camp. The GTSPA organized a recall vote against Huang Kuo-chang, who was then chair of the NPP, for his staunch support of gay marriage in 2015, with the support of a number of KMT politicians. GTSPA chair Sun Chi-cheng was present at the inauguration of the party’s New Taipei campaign headquarters on Sunday, and former GTSPA legislative candidate Li Guo-xian was named as the deputy chair of the TPP’s New Taipei branch. Party spokesperson Christina Yang and Ho Jui-ying, mother of party chair Ko Wen-je, both took selfies with Sun at the inauguration ceremony. The TPP’s close ties with the GTSPA have seen criticism, particularly because its party chair, Ko Wen-je, has sought to tout Taipei as an LGBTQ-friendly city after the legalization of gay marriage in Taiwan two years ago. The Taipei city government has, for example, painted a rainbow crosswalk in Ximending, historically known as a hotspot for LGBTQ nightlife, as an example of policy friendly to members of the LGBTQ community. The NPP has been particularly emphatic in attacking the TPP on the issue, with chair Claire Wang attacking the TPP over its sudden closeness with the GTSPA on social media. The TPP has tried to stake out territory for itself as a light Blue party that is not as emphatic on pro-unification stances nor as socially conservative as the KMT.