Hundreds of people gathered in Taiwan’s capital Sunday to participate in one of the few LGBTQ Pride events held around the world.
Participants flew a giant rainbow flag in the city’s Liberty Square in central Taipei as they marched in front of a memorial to Chaing Kai-shek, who ruled the island with an iron fist after he was driven off mainland China after losing the 1949 civil war to Mao Zedong’s communist forces.
But since his death in 1975, the self-ruled island has since become a symbol of liberal democracy in Asia, becoming the first in the region to legalize same-sex marriage last year.
The event in Taipei was staged in honor of the many cities who have been forced to cancel their LGBTQ celebrations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Taiwan has earned worldwide praise for its response to the pandemic, imposing strict restrictions and carrying out widespread contract tracing throughout the island of 23 million people, with just 447 confirmed cases and seven deaths.