Taiwanese LGBT activists unfurl giant 100kg rainbow flag in support of same-sex marriage bill
Hundreds of LGBT rights supporters in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan unfurled a giant rainbow flag to mark Taiwan’s National Day on Saturday.
The 100kg, 60-meter by 30-meter rainbow flag, was unfurled in a field in front of the Tainan City Hall.
The display is a highlight of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights group’s 28-day tour around Taiwan to drum up support for the same-sex marriage bill which cleared its first reading in the Legislative Yuan in 2013.
Organizers also called on LGBTs to ‘govern the country,’ Focus Taiwan reported.
Head of the alliance Hsu Hsiu-wen (許秀雯) called on LGBTs in Taiwan to vote and weigh in on the legislative elections next year.
Hsu, who is lawyer and legislator-at-large candidate for the political alliance between Taiwan’s Green Party and Social Democratic Party, said, ‘I am a lesbian. I love my same-sex partner and we have promised to accompany and take care of each other. However, we cannot legally marry in this country – the island that I deeply love.’
She added while she helps her heterosexual clients fight for their rights in divorce cases, she is unable to give her own partner better legal protection.
She further called on gay and lesbian voters to support her and other openly gay legislative candidates next year.
The ‘marriage equality bill’ cleared its first reading in the Legislative Yuan in 2013 and was reviewed for the first time in the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee last December. However the bill has been shelved, largely due to opposition from conservative Christian groups.
The massive flag is a gift from Taiwanese pop diva A-mei, a staunch supporter of same-sex marriage and LGBT rights.
The same flag is unfurled during the singer’s ‘Utopia’ concerts whenever she sang her hit song ‘Cai Hong’ (Rainbow) in support of the LGBT community.
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Sylvia Tan
