More than 200,000 throng Taipei's streets for the largest-ever pride

More than 200,000 members of the LGBT community and their supporters marched, paraded, and+BTXIdJ$&-M1nyWS=)jz)tB@i5fT#HvVdBi4gL3mt@pxtQP1zV danced across downtown Taipei on Saturday.

Organizers said the parade, which was the first since Taiwan legalW=LzdbUH#dscdH0oS30aH$rGaXQGtE4RjT-9_8fO#=73M9tlkzized same-sex marriage, was the largest-ever in Asia.

Local entrepreneur and LGBT activist )V+th2XlPJvD_iN4pBn)h2yw!DcM#E0n5D#V7gnM2fRezs44rLJay Lin said the experience was “very memorable”.

Hxm9wpAqQH7X^7k)JV7#V$gEet3(amvHP$4wmzw9y0BOJ+TEg6%e said walking down Zhongxiao East Road was amazing and compared it to his experience of walking down Fifth Avenue for WorldPride in New York earlier this year.

"These two streets represents the main arteries of the city, and to be given the clearance toWBUr2XRe0wX_Tr^0wlUqmOZXP=0SYJX_TT%rFId^2CLV&O$4Dz march is the strongest statement the cities can make to give the LGBTQ community the stamp of legitimacy."

Taiwan's 17th annual Taiwan Pride kicked off with a Rainbow Market of more than 100 LGBT-friendly businesses and organizations at Taipei C0Vq)xD4SS!W2J^oJDL3@5d95dRO@NIUY8yBCXgnOF-xry4AUFEity Hall Plaza.

It ended 5.6km across the city outside the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard where performers—incluCV)reP6kMHLxXZu5YA@%D1$nX)etU+^ikC(ZmHAiCRrn0(-$6Tding gay singer Hush—performed. 

Some 180 different groups and 24 floats took part in the march, accordU^_kOdV3zzioyeto9rT*A45t*KMCB_!f#5EvWOo+Nql$P4gOkGing to organizers.

The parade was the landmark event in a month of LGBT across Taipei. Hund%Rn!4Sl@GFLruYGvaY(Oho(3Bb@q=k3i=mu3))1zf1d%4PR!0_reds attended screenings, exhibitions, and workshops throughout the month, including the country's first trans pride parade on Friday evening.

GagaOOLala’s float this year hosted the director and actors of web series, Handsome Stewardess. The romantic-comedy featuring a good-looking tomboy lesbian who starts a new life as a flight attendant.

Award-winning actress Xiao Man, who plays the stewardess, renowned director Zero Chou, and Kenny J. Kuo, who plays a gay best friend, all donned rainbow attire and griS=)o6kUb3y)2rH02h)Y*cXj=GFK#q1nRivgJ_V=MQMYB_0Bkneeted other marchers.

Pride

Gay singer-songwriter HUPkJo#^i@6xaof+pl7nH&$DF(!IwEbvjxLYycX5UEFLFDybXa=RSH, performed at a concert to mark the end of the long parade across town.

As one of only a handful of Taiwan celegTUsbZD(S1rhq9d29o%x=bSoe&^-ElY8Jaow0evQbfRmO0y3o^brities to come out publicly, HUSH, whose real name is Chen Jia-Wei, on Friday urged LGBT Taiwanese to be brave and come out.

Pride this year, the first sinW1!_xZ*R_DdsT(!uifhSZ64t@A3DubV@$JYSzm#Q)a=%NJv-#1ce Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, saw an altered parade route.

Marchers started from Taipei City Hall Plaza and traTjj4i+qYbaKWwB=R%E^3#oe=vZ$ET-OG7PV^q))=jtraBPv-hUvelled along Yixian Road to Zhongxia East Road.

The parade then tur-w^8vqQ*yOPd64mmjtq7ULQxPY74(EvD%0!$9yxs542w*0Rs$tned south to Renai Road before ending near the Presidential Palace at Ketagalan Boulevard where there will be a Rainbow Market with more than 100 stalls.

Press officer for Pride 2019, R8^t@-j#MSXK#M-Ekc&=xtVkYroWrjniw@c1odjgf#In-pbb5YBenson Lee, said the new route was chosen to recognize the roles played by both Taipei City and the President’s Office in bringing about same-sex marriage.

For the first time, Taiwan Gay Family Rights Promotion Association will also hold the first Rainbow Parent-child Carnival and Rainbow BabynRZ7cjj78tJ5FNYrns8OhCkD&wJNG0pPyE)LaWpfC=3LK_#flz Mini Parade.

This year takes the theme "Together, Make TcTZ(w7b16)R+u-A5f(()L0pH*9xRAgkiePc)BjUtfOY9#Y@9NOaiwan Better”.

TwHCc2qW_g(Wg#HKi!%pm&y4Q4d^cQW!H=CCF1Hj-z7yCVa%v&*he theme in Chinese means good neighbor. It was chosen to show that the LGBTQ community is everywhere in Taiwan and, like good neighbors, everyone should support one another.

L#*EkeQK&$AmdXr-3dC62tXE@vmiJ&5e5LSZSrss8A#Vb2mZ%VQast year, more than 100,000 people took to the streets of Taipei for a pride parade that demanded marriage equality.

It came just a month before devastating referendum results showed the majority of Taiwan voters did not support same-s4Qur(LHZF%byu#4)WT_V#t0V@Og+HQb9gfPke!wu1@JWaQ_9eDex marriage.

Despite$Livh!!ARJczT=*jInMxK(xcCFnEagHN%!EFFSL)eb&CMKis$a the referendum result, parliament in May finally legalized same-sex marriage in line with a 2017 Constitutional Court ruling that failing to do so was unconstitutional.

This year, according to organizers, the LGBT rights movement has moved to the next stage and will fight against prejudice and stereotyping of L2bJU#udJ4UXSmDhnfeLqD26=SCv=W=nY0cgS6ny5e2c@(KeSA@GBT people.