Taiwan: Rally Against Gay Discrimination

In Taiwan, thousands march to protest against discrimination in the wake of recent anti-gay incidents.

"Discrimination get out," participants chanted while waving placards as they marched in downtown Taipei in an annual event which attracted people from Japan, Malaysia and South Korea.

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Organisers said they hosted Asia's biggest gay pride parade in 2010 with 30,000 participants. They expected this year's turnout to reach around 50,000 while a police estimate was not immediately available.

"We have an even bigger crowd this year particularly after a number of incidents showing that discrimination against the gay community is still serious," said organiser Hiro Liu.

Among them was a much-publicised medical dispute involving five patients receiving organs from an HIV positive donor, who was homosexual, due to a hospital's mistake.

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The incident led to some suggestions that homosexuals should be banned from donating blood and organs, which drew heated criticism from gay rights groups.

"AIDS is an illness, not a crime but the society equates AIDS with homosexuals to discriminate and stigmatise gay people," Liu said.

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Gay groups were also offended when a senior politician demanded opposition presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen to disclose her sexual orientation, as it will "affect her judgment call as a president," he said.

Compared with other Asian nations, Taiwan is becoming more open-minded towards homosexuality, although the acceptance is still much lower than the United State and Europe according to some surveys.

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About 80 lesbian couples tied the knot in Taiwan's biggest same-sex "wedding party" in August, in the hope that the island will soon legalise gay marriage.

Source-AFP