A Taiwanese group on Saturday took part in this year’s Pride in London parade, holding banners reading “First Country in Asia” to publicize the nation’s judicial passage of marriage equality in May.
The first official Pride in London event was held in 1972 and attracted 2,000 people. It is now the biggest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) parade in the UK and attracts thousands of participants every year as it winds through the bustling areas of Soho and Trafalgar Square.
This year, the parade attracted 26,000 participants and numerous onlookers, with rainbow flags hanging on shops and outside government buildings along the route, which was marked in rainbow colors on Google Maps.
Photo: CNA
A group of 100 Taiwanese organized by Taiwanese students in London also took part in the parade to promote the nation’s status as the first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
The Council of Grand Justices in May ruled that the law must be changed to allow same-sex marriage, paving the way for its legalization and cementing the nation’s status as a beacon for LGBT rights.
Since no significant progress had been made toward marriage equality when last year’s parade was held, the group had called on the government to pass legislation to allow same-sex unions, a member of the group said.
However, this year the situation changed dramatically, so it focused on celebrating the nation’s achievement and produced a video in support of marriage equality, the group said.
A British man named Kai and his Taiwanese partner, A-wei (阿瑋), said that after the law comes into effect, they will return to Taiwan to register their marriage.
The parade also attracted a wide variety of groups, companies and organizations in the UK, including Facebook, Walt Disney Co, the British Parliament, London police, Muslim LGBT groups and the post office and fire departments.
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office today requested that a court detain three individuals, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns. Chang is suspected of accessing a household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said. Prosecutors yesterday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders. The recall campaign leaders, including Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh
COVID-19 infections have climbed for three consecutive weeks and are likely to reach another peak between next month and June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. Weekly hospital visits for the disease increased by 19 percent from the previous week, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) said. From Tuesday last week to yesterday, 21 cases of severe COVID-19 and seven deaths were confirmed, and from Sept. 1 last year to yesterday, there were 600 cases and 129 deaths, he said. From Oct. 1 last year to yesterday, 95.9 percent of the severe cases and 96.7 percent of the deaths