Taiwan LGBT Pride 2018: Same-Sex Marriage and Fight for Equality

This Saturday, October 27, 2018, will be the 16th Taiwan LGBT Pride, the largest gay pride parade in Asia. Known more commonly in the past as The Taiwan Gay Pride, it takes place in Taipei on the last Saturday of October each year. Other pride parades in Taiwan, including the pride parades in Kaohsiung, Taichung , Tainan, Yilan and Taitung, which recently surfaced, take place on other dates.

Despite the official English translation of the event is “LGBT Pride,” the parade is widely known as “Taiwan Gay Pride” (台灣同志遊行). An organizer from the pride parade explain that their word choice of using “gay” instead of “LGBT” is because “gay” (同志) means “comrade” or “friend” in Chinese that welcomes the entire LGBT community. But the underlying reason is that many focus on raising awareness of gay rights rather than educating about other sexual orientations and gender identities, considering the lack of knowledge on LGBT community and gay people as the main population in the community.

When Taiwan Gay Pride was founded in 2003, only around 500 individuals participated. The number of marchers grew since then, reaching from tens of thousands of marchers (80,000) in 2016 to 123,000 in 2017, after Taiwan’s top court ruled that same-sex marriages were constitutional in May 2017.

The scale of Pride Day in Taiwan may have proudly expanded as the largest celebration in Asia, attracting marchers from Japan, Malaysia and the United States, but the fight towards LGBTQ rights and equality is not over yet.

Campaigning for yes on same-sex marriage

2018’s Theme: “Tell Your Story, Vote for Equality,”

In October 2017, same-sex couples celebrated at the 2017 Taiwan Gay Pride, with plans of getting married, but the spirit of joy was short-lived.

Taiwan may seem to be the first country in Asia to celebrate legalization of same-sex marriage, but conservative groups, including Christian parents, are not only pushing back marriage equality but also gender education in public schools. In Taiwan, even when the constitutional court ruled bans on same-sex marriage is illegal, the legislature still has to amend the laws to formally legalize same-sex marriage.

The theme of 2018 Taiwan Gay Pride, “Tell Your Story, Vote for Equality,” (性平攻略由你說．人人 18 投彩虹) directly urges people with 18-years of age to vote against the three anti-LGBTQ referendums, proposed by the Hope Family (下一代幸福), an anti-LGBTQ, anti-gender education-NGO that claims to protect children and families in the name of love.

As the Taiwan Gay Pride organizers stated in the mission statement, the existence of these referendums are threats against gender expressions, gender identities, and diversity in Taiwan. The gender equity education can not be eliminated, because it is a “strategy book to defeat discrimination.”

Anti-LGBT and pro-LGBT groups filled busy streets of Taipei and spammed social media, campaigning for or against these referendums. Glenn Lio, a member of the LGBT community said, “I was harassed by someone who is promoting misleading information about gays in a restaurant. When she approached me, I told her that I am gay but she wouldn’t leave me alone.” Nick Yao, one of the a hundred volunteers (平權小可愛) to urge voting no to the referendum, expressed “we have been busier than ever, promoting referendum on the streets of Taipei. Many feel like we don’t have enough time, hopefully the Taiwan Gay Pride will be a opportunity to urge people to vote and understand the situation.”

There are also two additional referendums in support of same-sex marriage and gender education:

1. ”Do you agree that the Civil Code marriage regulations should be used to guarantee the rights of same sex couples to get married?”
2. ”Do you agree that gender equity education as defined in ‘the Gender Equity Education Act’ should be taught at all stages of the national curriculum and that such education should cover courses on emotional education, sex education and gay and lesbian education?

From 2017 Pride

From 2017 Pride

What can we do?

Taiwan LGBT Pride Community believes that participating the pride not only raises awareness of the upcoming referendum but also continues to embrace diversity and encourage each and every of us being our own true self.

When:

The 2018 Taiwan Gay Parade in Taipei is on Saturday, October 27, 2018, 13:30-19:10
13:30:  Assemble at the plaza on Ketagalan Boulevard between Gongyuan Rd. and Zhongshan S. Rd.
14:30: Marching
19:10: Event ends

Where:

The Taiwan Gay Pride in Taipei begin and ends at Ketagalan Blvd (in between Gongyuan Rd. and Zhongshan S. Rd.)

Routes:

Similar to the pride last year, this year the pride parade has three routes, West Route, East Route and South Route. Each route includes three colored processions. All nine colored processions will join for the rally. For details see here:

West Route (the Green, Blue and White Processions): Zhongshan S. Rd. (the North side) → Qingdao W. Rd.→Gongyuan Rd.→Xiangyang Rd.→Chongqing S. Rd.→Hengyang Rd.→Zhonghua Rd.→Zhongxiao W. Rd.→Gongyuan Rd.→Qingdao W. Rd.→Zhongshan S. Rd.(the North side)

East Route (the Pink, Yellow and Purple Processions): Xinyi Rd.→Hangzhou South Rd.→Zhongxiao Ｅ. Rd.→Jinshan South Rd.→Ren’ai Rd.

South Route (the Red, Orange and Black Processions): Zhongshan S. Rd. (the South side)→Aiguo E. Rd.→Hangzhou South Rd.→Xinyi Rd.→Jinshan South Rd.→Heping E. Rd.→Roosevelt Rd.→Zhongshan S. Rd. (the South side)

For more information:

2018 Taiwan Gay Pride Facebook Event Page
Taiwan LGBT Pride Facebook Page

(Feature photo of 2018 Taiwan Gay Pride courtesy of Taiwan LGBT Pride 臺灣同志遊行)