A gay pride parade is to be held on Sunday next week, even as many other cities around the world are planning virtual festivals due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Taiwanese event will recognize those cities that have had to cancel their parades by handing out 500 posters in Taipei for participants to write the name of a city or country they wish to represent in the march, the organizers said yesterday.
The estimated 1,000 participants are to gather at Liberty Square and march around the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall complex, said Darien Chen (陳宏昌), a consultant at the Taiwan Gay Sports and Taiwan Gay Development Movement Association.
“Knowing that over 475 pride events around the world have been canceled just broke my heart,” said Chen, who represented Taiwan at Mr Gay World 2013.
“Being in Taiwan, where things are almost back to normal and big gatherings are allowed, I feel privileged to carry the responsibility of holding a pride parade in Pride month 2020,” Chen said.
More than 500 pride events worldwide that were scheduled for this month have been canceled or postponed due to travel restrictions and bans on large gatherings amid the pandemic, according to international news reports.
Instead, a series of virtual events are being organized, including Global Pride 2020, a 24-hour live stream from around the world that is to feature musical performances, appearances by drag artists and remarks by several world leaders, the reports said.
In Taiwan, the pride parade can be held live because the country has been gradually easing its COVID-19 restrictions since June 7, when it recorded 56 consecutive days without any domestically transmitted infections.
June is celebrated worldwide as Pride Month because it commemorates the Stonewall uprising, a demonstration that began on June 28, 1969, outside the Stonewall Inn in New York City and gave rise to the international gay rights movement.
Taipei’s annual pride parade is held in October.
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