The Taipei Pride enjoys the blessing of the Taiwanese Government, so much so that the culture ministry put out an invite to the public to come and participate.
Over 10,000 braved the rain to participate in Asia's biggest Pride march in Taipei, Taiwan on Saturday. The 14th edition of the Pride, themed "Fun Together — Honour diversity, like you mean it," was an attempt at calling out the "fake-friendly" in the space of supportive behaviour said spokesperson for the pride Simon Tai. "We aren't seeking to shame but create awareness among some of our 'sensitive' supporters on their own discrimination," he told DNA and added: "We want this to facilitate promotion of dialogue on intersectionality of inter-ethnic issues, racism, gender and even cognitive differences with LGBTQIA issues and make us all introspect on whether we really stand for equality or whether that (support) comes with riders and qualifiers."
The Taipei Pride enjoys the blessing of the Taiwanese Government, so much so that the culture ministry put out an invite to the public to come and participate. The Town Hall in the city too will fly the rainbow flag over the weekend in support. "When we began in 2003, there were barely 500 people and there were several naysayers who felt we will not be able to have the march again but you can see how even the rain is not dampening the enthusiasm," said a Su Hsiao, of support group for lesbian women.
Many like Taiwanese flight purser Kim Cheng rue how their government is not going the whole distance. "My partner Po Chung and I have been together for seven years but we can't make our union official or even declare each other nominees for insurance and other spousal benefits," he said,
While admitting that Taiwan has a long way to go before it matches the standards of other Western and Scandinavian countries, Tai said the best option is to work with the government and society to facilitate change. "Often, when people compare India or Malaysia with Taiwan on LGBTQIA issues, I tell them that there is nothing like a one-size-fits-all approach. Every culture will have its own paradigm and pace to resolve their issues."
Perhaps because of its South East Asian location, this Pride had a huge presence from ASEAN from neighbouring regions like Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea, Malayasia, Indonesia and China. The latter, do not seem to enjoy as much of a friendly vibe given the strained relations between Taipei and Beijing. Mei Dong, a popular drag queen (given how frequently she was besieged for selfies) said, "We speak the same language and even enjoy the same jokes but just like Hong Kongers, Taiwanese have a chip on their shoulder," before being hushed by a group member.
The march seemed to be welcomed by all as phone cameras were immediately drawn with requests for pictures. Coffee shops and food joints seemed to love the extra business from the march participants who seemed to be
getting a lot of attention from the other clientele.
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