Taipei yesterday played host to one of the few Pride marches around the world on Sunday as the nation’s LGTB+ community and their supporters gathered at Liberty Square for a small march.
An afternoon shower delayed the start of the “Taiwan Pride Parade for the World” for an hour, but music helped maintain the enthusiasm of the estimated 1,200 participants as they waited.
When the rain halted, participants marched from in front of the Liberty Square archway to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and back.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
Many of those attending held placards with the names of major cities around the world that have been unable to celebrate Pride Month this month because of the COVID-19 pandemic, or the values they were marching for.
“I’m marching for New York, because that’s the origin of the Stonewall uprising. I attended the parade there last year, but this year it has been canceled,” Chi Chia-wei (祁家威), a pioneering gay rights advocate in Taiwan, told the Central News Agency.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the first pride marches in the US, which were held a year after the Stonewall uprising in New York City.
“I’m here to march for France,” Cookie, a French drag queen who has been living in Taiwan for the past six years told Agence France-Presse. “Since the rest of the world cannot march or even go out, we have the opportunity to march for the rest of the world.”
Taiwan’s annual Pride march is held in late October, but many in the nation’s LGTB+ community felt it was important do something this month when so many others around the world could not.
“Knowing that over 475 pride events around the world have been canceled broke my heart,” said event organizer Darien Chen (陳宏昌), a consultant at the Taiwan Gay Sports and Taiwan Gay Development Movement Association. “I feel it is an honor and a responsibility for Taiwan to be commemorating this very important occasion.”
Other participants said the event was a testament both to Taiwan’s ability to contain the pandemic and its commitment to rights for people of all sexual orientations.
CLEAR BEFORE LEAVING: Two baby boys and a woman in her 30s tested negative before departing for Japan, but tests taken after their arrival came back postive Three Taiwanese tested positive for COVID-19 when they arrived in Japan earlier this month, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported a new imported case. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), head of the center, said that one of the three cases in Japan is a Taiwanese baby under the age of one, whose parents work in Japan. The infant came to Taiwan with his parents in January, and the parents paid for the family’s COVID-19 tests on Oct. 10 ahead of their planned return to Japan on Monday last week, he said. The boy and his
‘BACKED BY ENEMY’: CTi News is one of the few channels promoting unification, the New Party chairman said, while pro-Taiwan groups called it a propaganda outlet Pan-blue camp supporters yesterday lodged a protest at the National Communications Commission (NCC) against what they say is a possible move by the government to shut down CTi News, adding that politics should not interfere with freedom of the press. Protesters included representatives from the New Party, the Blue Sky Action Alliance, the 333 Political Party Alliance and other pan-blue groups. “We stand here today because CTi News is one of the few media outlets in Taiwan that is still willing to give groups supporting unification with China a voice. If the news channel is gone, there would only be
NEW YEAR’S EVE: Examples from South Korea and Japan show that 15 local COVID-19 infections could emerge in a short period if measures are not taken The Taipei City Government would cancel its New Year’s Eve Party and all large events if 15 or more confirmed cases of COVID-19 are reported in the city within a week, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said yesterday. Addressing the Taipei Cross Border E-Commerce Annual Convention, Ko said the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many uncertainties to society, and that e-commerce is on a path of no return and would continue to grow. Many countries have not effectively controlled their COVID-19 outbreaks, and although Taiwan implements strict border controls and there have been few inbound passengers, the pandemic is unlikely to end soon,
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday accused CTi News of trying to mislead the public by publishing a half-page advert claiming that the party interfered in the National Communications Commission’s (NCC) review of its application for a license renewal. CTi News is distorting the commission’s review process by painting it as a political conflict and turning it into a smear campaign against the DPP, party spokeswoman Yen Juo-fang (顏若芳) said. “The NCC is an independent body, which carries out reviews and makes decisions based on its members’ professional expertise, as well as regulations and legal requirements governing media operations,” Yen said. “We condemn
RSS