台湾・台北プライド、5,000人動員

Thousands march to demand better rights for gays, lesbians
2006/10/1
TAIPEI, dpa

More than 5,000 gay rights activists took to the streets of Taipei in a carnival-style parade Saturday to demand fair treatment for the island's estimated 1 million gay residents.

Shouting slogans and waving rainbow flags, the activists marched through downtown Taipei to a center where four lesbian couples were wed.

A pastor from Tong Kuang Light House Presbyterian Church conducted the ceremony, which Taiwan gay author Hsu You-shen and his U.S. partner Gray Harriman hailed as a great leap forward for gay rights on the island.

Hsu, 56, married Harriman in Taiwan's first gay wedding in 1996, which was attended by some 400 people.

"At that time only friends attended our wedding. But this time, there are not only friends and relatives, but also public figures like scholars, lawyers and legislators," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

"This shows that the gay community is more united and homosexuals have less fear of exposure," he said.

Saturday's gay pride march was the fourth held in Taipei and was organized by gay rights groups with backing from the city government.

Activists from China, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore took part in the parade.

Homosexuality is a taboo subject in Asia, where many people consider it an illness or abnormality, but in recent years Taiwan has shown greater acceptance.

In 2000, President Chen Shui-bian told two visiting US gay rights activists that being a homosexual was not a sin or an illness.

At Chen's instruction, Taiwan drafted a Human Rights Basic Law which abolishes the death penalty and legalizes gay marriage.

It the law is passed, it will make Taiwan the first country in Asia -- and the fifth in the world after the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada -- where gays can marry.


© 2006 DPA - Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa

聯合新聞網
同志大遊行 公開集體結婚
更新日期:2006/09/30 14:20 記者:記者邵冰如/台北報導

第四屆同志（同性戀者）大遊行今天下午登場，數千名同志要走上街頭，一同去「家遊」，表達同志組家庭的呼聲。遊行最後要舉行台灣首度同志公開集體婚禮，四對女同志將在眾人見證下，許下婚姻與家庭的盟約，見證同志族群追求合法婚姻的的心願。

台灣同志大遊行邁入第四年，參與人數每年快速增加，去年參加者已突破三千人，成為亞洲最具規模的同志遊行活動，亞洲其他國家的同志今天也趕來響應。由性別人權協會、同志諮詢熱線和晶晶書庫等同志社團組成的台灣同志遊行聯盟，今年決定以「家」做主軸，提出「go together一同去家遊」的活動主題，號召同志、同志家人、朋友，以及所有認同「同志組家庭」的社會大眾一起上街「家遊」。

台灣同志遊行聯盟表示，所有參與者在遊行時，會選擇以家庭、婚姻、伴侶為主題的口號和裝扮。例如同志書籍出版社─「集合」出版社就推出「拉子廚房」遊行隊伍，以女同志伴侶一同下廚的形象，突顯同志家庭的相親相愛。女同志情侶們會身著情侶裝，提著菜籃、推著買菜推車，或拿著烹飪器具，一路歡喜前進。

男同志也希望一掃「轟趴」、「愛滋」的負面陰影，要以健康開朗的形象走上街頭。男同志團體「水男孩」就安排只穿著泳褲的健美男孩走在隊伍裡，並喊出「認知化解不介意」的口號，希望化解大眾重視愛滋感染者倍受歧視的困境。

遊行更破天荒舉辦公開同志婚禮。遊行隊伍抵達終點華山藝文特區時，集體結婚典禮登場，四對女同志身穿婚紗和西裝，舉行正式婚禮。性別人權協會秘書長王蘋說，雖然台灣法律尚不允許同志婚姻合法，但這場婚禮完全比照正式型式，全程由同志牧師證婚，有作家、民代、學者分任證婚人、主婚人和介紹人，還有數千名同志在場觀禮。許多不方便公開上台舉行婚禮的同志情侶們，也會在台下相互擁抱，一起許下婚姻的誓約。

數千遊行者，最後更要同聲高唱祝福之歌─張惠妹的「愛是唯一」：「愛是唯一的表情，也是存在的勇氣，把手放在胸前，熱情會穿越冷漠的世界，愛是所有的一切…」