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.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS