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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS