Taipei raises rainbow flag at City Hall as thousands march in pride parade
Over the weekend, the streets of Taipei saw a massive 82,000 people marching for same-sex marriage to be legalised.
Holding placards calling for marriage equality, participants dressed up and carried rainbow flags as they filled the streets of the Taiwan capital.
Over at City Hall, Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je posted his own shoutout on Facebook for LGBTQ rights. He posted a picture of the rainbow flag raised there with the caption: "City Hall today raised a special flag."
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Also on Facebook, new president Tsai Ing-wen posted a lengthy note in support of same-sex marriage.
She said three parties in parliament have already proposed drafting more inclusive laws, hinting at the possibility that same-sex marriage might get some sort of approval in the near future.
If it does, Taipei will be the first nation in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage.
"Today there's a rainbow over Taiwan. Keep on believing," she said.
While Taiwan is considered among the more progressive nations in Asia, the former ruling Kuomintang party pushed back against marriage equality.
But under Tsai, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) -- which has been in power for five months -- has given LGBTQ rights a boost recently.
Last week, the DPP ruled that marriage benefits such as honeymoon leave and parental leave should be extended to same-sex couples.
This includes relief payments and other perks that so far have only been extended to married, straight employees.
But as participants marched in what organisers said was the biggest gay rally in Asia, an anti-gay marriage group made over 2,000 calls to the government's hotline to condemn the event, local papers reported.
The group condemned police for not cracking down on parade participants, and said the Taipei municipal government was merely flying the flag to win voter support ahead of the elections.
But an estimated 82,000 marchers may beg to differ.
Topics LGBTQ
Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band
