More than 60,000 people yesterday participated in the 11th Kaohsiung Pride parade — the largest crowd in its history — which was held under the theme of “We! Around You!”
The parade began at about 2pm in front of Dayi Park and proceeded along Dacheng Street and Wufu 3rd Road, across the Love River (愛河), before making a loop back to the starting point.
The Kaohsiung government also showed its support by raising rainbow flags at its Siwei and Fongshan offices.
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) posted a photo on Facebook of a city initiative to paint a pavement at the Pier-2 Art Center in rainbow colors and said that “love and tolerance is one of the most beautiful things about Taiwan.”
The 4km parade was followed by performances of artists, and speeches by organizers and LGBT rights advocates.
One of the speakers, Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan chief coordinator Jennifer Lu (呂欣潔), said that the legalization of same-sex marriages was only a start, as other issues that affect the LGBT community remain unresolved.
For example, same-sex couples still face more restrictions in adoption than their heterosexual counterparts, she said.
Although same-sex marriage was in May last year legalized by the Act for Implementation of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 (司法院釋字第七四八號解釋施行法), married same-sex couples are not allowed to adopt children with whom they do not have a blood relationship.
However, she thanked Kaohsiung City councilors for supporting the issue and arranging for the pavement to be painted in rainbow colors.
Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights secretary-
general Chien Chih-chieh (簡至潔) pushed the group’s call for the recognition of same-sex marriages between Taiwanese and foreigners regardless of whether their home country recognizing same-sex marriage.
Being excluded from same-sex marriage makes it difficult for the foreign partners to travel to and stay in Taiwan, as they can often only obtain temporary student or tourist visas.
Aboriginal singer Abao, who this year won multiple Golden Melody Awards, her fellow Aboriginal singer Suming Rupi and drag group In Your Face were among the performers.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard