Taipei to hold gay carnival and pride march

Oct 1, 2007, 15:25 GMT

Taipei - Taiwan will hold a government-funded gay carnival this weekend and Asia's largest gay pride march on October 13, the Taipei City Government and gay rights groups said on Monday.

The carnival will be held this weekend with 12 Taiwan and foreign gay films being shown at the Honglou Theatre in central Taipei, Jason Yeh, a city official, told a news conference.

'The theme of this year's gay carnival is Teach You How to Watch a Gay Film. We want the public to watch gay films in a relaxed atmosphere so that they can understand gay-related issues,' he said.

The carnival, in its 8th year, will be followed by the Gay Pride March, now the largest in Asia, the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Tongzhi, comrade, is the euphemism for homosexuals in Asia.

'We expect to mobilize 10,000 people to take part in the march which will proceed through Taipei's main streets. During the march, the marchers will hold up coloured cardboards to form a human rainbow flag,' Wu Hsu-liang, the hotline's spokesman, said, referring to the six-colour flag symbolizing gay and lesbian pride.

'Gay groups from Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong will participate in the march. There will also be individual homosexuals from other countries attending the march,' he said.

Tolerance for homosexuals has grown in recent years in Taiwan, but Taiwan gays and lesbians are still fighting for equal rights, especially the right to get married.