This year’s online-only Taiwan LGBT Pride parade on Saturday next week is to feature interactive “stages” with celebrity performances and drag queen shows, organizer Taiwan Rainbow Civil Action Association said.
In place of the event’s normal parade through downtown Taipei, the 19th edition of the event would include five interactive stages — Main Stage, Party Float, International Pride Issues, Parade Issues and Chat Box — accessible through the event’s Web site, event.taiwanpride.lgbt, the association said.
The lineup for this year’s event includes celebrity performances, drag queen shows, chat rooms and online shopping from 2pm to 5:30pm, it said.
Photo: Ann Wang, Reuters
The organizers last month announced that the parade would be held virtually this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Association spokesperson Tai Yu-hsun (戴佑勳) on Tuesday said that even though the nation’s COVID-19 situation has been improving, it was too late to reverse preparations for an online event, which started when domestic cases were still climbing.
“When we were planning for the parade earlier in the year, we were just about to enter a level 3 COVID-19 alert. So, if we made any changes now, it would affect the agreements we have with our collaborators,” Tai said.
Restrictions on public gatherings were introduced after a nationwide level 3 alert was announced on May 19 following a surge in domestic cases. With daily local case numbers regularly in the single digits, the Central Epidemic Command Center on July 27 announced a return to a level 2 alert.
About 130,000 people attended last year’s parade, which followed a record-breaking turnout of 200,000 in 2019 — the same year Taiwan became the first nation in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
Association chairman Fletcher Hong (小鯨) said that despite recent progress, society has not yet reached true equality for people in the LGBT community.
“We often see areas, such as in shops or restrooms, labeled as ‘gender friendly’ spaces, but the purpose of that is so people can be themselves instead of having it as a place of refuge... We need to make being ‘friendly’ a part of our daily normal life,” Hong said.
Another focus of the event is HIV/AIDS education.
Chiu Yi-chi (邱奕頎), a director at the Persons with HIV/AIDS Rights Advocacy Association of Taiwan, said there was still a stigma attached to those infected with HIV — despite growing evidence that those with undetectable levels of the virus can no longer transmit it to sexual partners.
“Sometimes HIV positive people are turned away by dentists because they fear that they might not be able to fully disinfect their equipment,” Chiu said, adding that long-term nursing facilities sometimes refuse to let those with HIV share rooms with other patients.
Chiu said he hoped the work by his organization would help people in Taiwan learn more about medical advancements related to HIV and AIDS, and reduce stigmatization by introducing people to the friends and families of those with the disease.
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