A Taiwan Pride March Is The Biggest LGBTQIA+ Event In East Asia
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On Saturday, October 28, Taiwan’s Pride march, themed Stand With Diversity, in Taipei, recorded a record crowd of 176,000. This marks the largest Pride event in Asia’s history.
What it means to “Stand With Diversity”
Taiwan is one of the most progressive Asian countries being the only to officially legalise and recognise same-sex marriage. During the Pride event, representatives from different LGBTQIA+ advocacy groups spoke to the crowd encouraging diversity and solidarity.
One such volunteer was from the transgender group of the gay consultation hotline and they spoke about the progress gay rights have made in recent years in Taiwan. But for trans folks, having gender markers changed on official documents still has the barrier of surgical intervention before being permitted. As an intersectional community, queer people should make room to embrace each other and stand for the rights of all – stand with diversity.
With numbers up by almost 50,000 on the year before, many are celebrating Taiwan’s inclusive environment. It offers a safe space for LGBTQIA+ folks from across neighbouring countries to come and celebrate. Vice President Lai Ching-te was seen in attendance and was quoted saying that, “Democracy supports gays.”
