Taiwan Celebrates East Asia’s Largest Pride March

By Tara Thompson

On October 26th, over 120,000 people, many carrying rainbow flags, marched through one of the busiest downtown areas near the famed Taipei World Trade Center, for the city’s first Pride street march in two years.

This year was the 20th celebration since it began. The march included go-go dancers and drag queens on the back of colorfully decorated trucks, joined by several senior members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Taiwan legalised same-sex marriage in 2019, a first for Asia, and is proud of its reputation of LGBTQ+ rights and liberalism. Social worker Chang Chi, 28, who took part with her girlfriend, said: “Taiwan is the first place where same sex marriage was legalised in Asia. That’s not possible in many countries. Taiwan is a place where you can be who you are.”

These fearless people braved the cooler rainy weather in as little as underwear or just plain topless, with a wide spectrum of colors to go with rainbow masks, flags, and face paintings to go with it. This pride march had been postponed for 2 years due to COVID-19, so it’s no wonder people went all out for this year’s celebration.