TAIPEI HOSTS ASIA'S LARGEST PRIDE PARADE

About 15,000 people turned up at the Taiwan Pride Parade 2007 held on Saturday, October 13, in Taipei, breaking its previous record of 10,000; mega-pop star A-Mei pledged to serve as Rainbow Star Ambassador. This year marks the fifth time a gay pride parade is held in Taiwan, and the event stood up to its promise to be the largest gay event of the year with a record number of participants. The parade has grown in strength and size over the years, garnering an increasing number of supporters and participation from civil activism groups and individuals from outside the GLBT community.

Highlights of this year’s parade include the formation of a ‘Rainbow Streetscape’ on Taipei’s busiest thoroughfare Zhongxiao East Road Section 4 where the commercial and shopping hub of the city is located, and the appearance of pop superstar A-Mei (Chang Huei-Mei) who was appointed Rainbow Star for a year. (A-Mei is pictured above warmly hugging two HIV-positive gay men on stage at the concert held on the Taipei City Hall plaza as part of the pride parade program. Thousands of passers-by at Taipei's busy Xinyi shopping district stopped to join the 15,000-strong crowd at the open-air concert and listened in to A-Mei's words of support for the GLBT cause.)

At about 3 pm, more than 10,000 people assigned to six colour-coded blocks gathered on Section 4 of Zhongxiao East Road holding up colored posters and forming an impressive linear rainbow streetscape visible from the air. The 30-second episode was broadcast on national television on all major stations.

A-Mei, a popular top-selling song artiste in Mandarin pop, will be serving a term as a spokesperson and ambassador for the GLBT community. She inked an agreement to accept the appointment before a crowd of over 15,000 people, including parade participants and passers-by near the end of the parade. The audience gathered on the plaza before the Taipei City Hall were ecstatic, many bouncing and pounding the ground in joy, as A-Mei performed six of her songs that are most popular with gay fans.

At the concert, she took off a piece of her favorite jewelry and donated it to the Taiwan Pride Parade for fund-raising. The piece of star-themed necklace will be up for auction on the parade official website. (see link at the end of this article)

A-Mei has always been vocal about her support for gays and lesbians. One of her best-known music videos (Love is the Only Thing) features a same-sex wedding scene of a male couple, who received blessings from parents and friends. Many of her love songs have been voted top hits by gay listeners in previous years.

The carnival theme continues to set the tone for this year’s parade, ‘Rainbow Power’, with an emphasis on reducing public stigma on GLBT people and improving the visibility of the gay electorate, thereby reminding the government and the society of the GLBT community’s power and influence on the democratic process. 

The parade started from the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall at 1 pm on Saturday led by contingents formed by over 80 GLBT and gay-friendly organizations and bodies from around Taiwan as well as overseas groups from Hong Kong and elsewhere. Thousand of individuals, including families with children and elderly people were seen joining the parade. This year's parade also saw a larger number of teenage students from middle and high schools, not all of whom are gay or lesbian.

See a short video of some of the men preparing for the parade here. 

More than 140 volunteers provided logistic support for the parade organizing committee, backed by an alliance formed by various gay interest organizations in Taiwan.

This year’s parade saw for the first time contingents formed by the two main political parties in Taiwan, a sign that both parties are serious about winning support from GLBT voters in the upcoming race for the Legislative House in December and presidential election to be held in March next year.

The election support group for Kuomingtang (KMT) presidential hopeful Ma Ying-Jeou and the youth section of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) candidate Frank Hsieh were conspicuously present in the blue and green sections (colors representing their respective political affiliations) of the rainbow-colored parade formation.

A number of politicians made their appearance in the parade, including DPP legislators Hsiao Bee-Khim (who tabled the gay marriage bill last year in the Legislative House) and Cheng Yun-Peng, DPP cabinet member in charge of youth development Cheng Li-Chin, KMT Taipei City Councillors Lin Yi-Hua and Tai Hsi-Chin, former director of Taipei City Government Department of Civil Affairs Lin Cheng-Hsiu (who initiated the GLBT Civil Rights Movement during his term), KMT spokesman and leading campaigner for presidential election Su Jun-Pin.

Gays Petition Government On Sex Law Changes submitted by Bill Tom

The Singaporean government is proposing that oral and anal sex between consenting heterosexual adults would no longer be considered an offense.  But a section (377a) that deals with the same acts between men would remain intact and be subject to a jail penalty of up to two years.  .

A petition to decriminalize gay sex  was presented to lawmakers as part of a debate.    It was signed by 2,341 people in three days.

Ho Peng Kee, senior minister of state for law and home affairs, said: “Singaporeans find homosexual behavior offensive and unacceptable.”   Ho added that: “Repealing section 377a may send the wrong signal that the government is endorsing a homosexual lifestyle as a part of our mainstream way of life.”

 But Siew Kum Hong, the lawmaker who presented the petition to Parliament, said it was not the objective of criminal law to reflect the morality of the majority.   “Let us not perpetuate or repeat the mistakes of others in the past.”

Stuart Koe, an AIDS activist,  said keeping the ban without actively enforcing it risked bringing disrepute to the law.