News
2006-09-07
Rainbow flag to
grace Taipei city hall
Taipei shows
support for gays
Civic officials
sponsoring a gay festival in Taipei, Taiwan, will hoist
Civic officials
sponsoring a gay festival in Taipei, Taiwan, will hoist
the rainbow flag September 17 above the city hall in what
they term a first for an Asian city, the Taipei
Times reports. The annual "LGBT Civil Rights
Movement—Queer-friendly Taipei" has been hosted
since 2000 by the city's Department of Civil Affairs,
with an annual budget of about $30,000.
Yeh Jie-sheng,
deputy chief of the department, said the city sponsors the
event to stress its respect for minority groups and cultural
diversity. "Conservative and religious groups have
been criticizing the event, and we welcome different
opinions. We will invite these groups this year to
discuss issues of gay rights together," he told reporters
last week at city hall.
Wang Ping,
secretary-general of the Gender/Sexuality Rights Association
in Taiwan, which is helping organize the festival, told the
Times that events will include the flag-raising
ceremony—the first of its kind in Asia—on the
morning of September 17, followed by gay rights forums
that afternoon in the city council chamber and an art
exhibition later in the month.
A pride parade is
planned for September 30, with a collective same-sex
wedding ceremony immediately following. Local Christian
groups have spread rumors that the city is sponsoring
the nuptials. Officials deny this, saying the
department will not promote same-sex marriage before it
becomes legal.
Nelson Chen,
chairman of Taiwan's Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, who
received Yeh's blessing when he wed his partner last year in
a public ceremony, praised the city's gestures to the
gay community but resented attitudes he termed
"hypocritical."
"Last year the
department sent a flower basket to my wedding as a
blessing. Now it says that it doesn't support gay marriage
when confronted by conservative groups," he told the
Times. (The Advocate)
Click here to follow The Advocate on Twitter.
Page 1 of 1