With music, self-made signs and creative costumes, an estimated more than 30,000 people from across Taiwan and several other countries yesterday marched through the streets of Taipei during the annual Taiwan Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride parade, being held for the ninth consecutive year, calling for an end to discrimination against sexual minorities.
Tens of thousands of people poured onto Ketagalan Boulevard, the departure and ending point of the parade hours before 2pm, when the parade was scheduled to depart.
Participants carried balloons and self-made placards with slogans supporting gay rights and opposing discrimination, and many also dressed in special costumes to show their support for diversity.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Although the atmosphere was festive, the objective of the parade was serious.
“We are standing here together — whether you belong to the LGBT community or not — to fight back against discrimination against the LGBT community in this country,” one of the organizers of the parade, nicknamed A-Cheng (阿正), told the crowd. “Discrimination against LGBT people may seem to have decreased, but in fact, it’s still there, it just changed its form and was ‘upgraded.’”
He said that 10 years ago, LGBT communities were confronted directly by people who called them all sorts of names, but “nowadays, people would tell you: ‘I don’t have any problems with gays, but ...’ What comes after the ‘but’ could be: ‘I don’t think gays should be able to legally get married,’ ‘students should not be taught about homosexuality at school,’ or something else that’s still discriminatory in nature.”
J.J. Lai (賴正哲), co-founder of the first Taiwan LGBT Parade in 2003, said the situation may have improved a little, but discrimination from the general public and politicians still exists.
“Nine years ago, we departed from the 228 Peace Park with only a few hundred people. Today, we’re on Ketagalan Boulevard with more than 30,000 people,” Lai said.
“Nine years ago, there was only one Taiwan LGBT Pride Parade in Taipei, but this year parades are taking place in Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien,” he added. “We can’t deny there have been changes. However, we should not overlook the threats posed by homophobic people and organizations.”
Lai accused President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) of having broken his campaign pledges four years ago that he would promote LGBT rights in his policies.
“Four years have passed and he’s running for his second term, but we’re still not getting what he promised — it’s all bullshit,” he said.
While Democratic Progressive Party presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) promised to legalize civil unions, Lai said he was disappointed that Tsai said such a policy should be implemented only “when there’s consensus in society.”
“If there’s social consensus, why would we need you, politicians, to push for it?” Lai said. “We don’t care whether Ma is gay or Tsai is a lesbian, we want actual policies benefiting the LGBT communities.”
Part of the parade marched through neighborhoods around National Taiwan Normal University, where many conservative families live, hoping that the residents would acquire a better understanding of LGBT communities through more contact, organizers said.
After the parade, demonstrators rallied on Ketagalan Boulevard and stepped on the ground 100 times, a gesture meant to represent that gay rights have gone nowhere, despite the efforts.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS