With US pop star Lady Gaga scheduled to perform in Greater Taichung today, members of the Kaohsiung LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) Pride Parade yesterday said they plan to hold up placards expressing the gay community’s support for Lady Gaga, in light of her gay-friendly image.
The group’s convener, Hsiao Hsing (小星), said Lady Gaga has always encouraged her fans to remain true to themselves through her own story of being bullied and thrown in a garbage can when she was younger, but never giving up on herself.
This story tells young gay people in Taiwan, who often face bullying on campus, that they must work hard and persevere, Hsiao Hsing said.
On hearing that Lady Gaga, who has spoken out several times in support of the gay community, was coming to Taiwan, Kaohsiung LGBT Pride Parade said it too had decided to show its support for Lady Gaga.
After discussions, they decided to send a member, nicknamed Chris, to register in a “creative outfit” contest organized by Mercedez-Benz in Taiwan, in the hope of meeting Lady Gaga.
Chris covered himself with black feathers, and a cage, to symbolize the discrimination and repression that gay people suffer, but that rather than be cowed by such attitudes, gay people are determined to fight for their rights.
Chris won first place in the contest with over 10,000 votes on the Internet.
In addition to Chris, about 10 other members of the group have purchased tickets to Lady Gaga’s concert, and will be holding up signs that read “born this way, born this gay” and “Gaga loves gays, gays love Gaga” to show their support.
Taiwanese can file complaints with the Tourism Administration to report travel agencies if their activities caused termination of a person’s citizenship, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday, after a podcaster highlighted a case in which a person’s citizenship was canceled for receiving a single-use Chinese passport to enter Russia. The council is aware of incidents in which people who signed up through Chinese travel agencies for tours of Russia were told they could obtain Russian visas and fast-track border clearance, Chiu told reporters on the sidelines of an event in Taipei. However, the travel agencies actually applied
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