More than 200,Vqa(b9%8zgARJ5pu3^%$&K6H36Y&Z7UJX(=lbC*[email protected]#000 members of the LGBT community and their supporters marched, paraded, and danced across downtown Taipei on Saturday.

OrganizersY51k_zIeT^[email protected][email protected]& said the parade, which was the first since Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage, was the largest-ever in Asia.

Local entrepreneur and Vkcxuo$O4f-J40)[email protected]_C*u0_Oq6QS#@8Xs08&T^xLGBT activist Jay Lin said the experience was “very memorable”.

He[email protected]=J)Ix3USqE12)TJs4kpDe said walking down Zhongxiao East Road was amazing and compared it to his experience of walking down Fifth Avenue for WorldPride in New York earlier this year.

"These two streets repd*AfY_=NZxHBW6wV%MDhdIwsJiuW!-5uIp=2yT61^*oxID1OC#resents the main arteries of the city, and to be given the clearance to march is the strongest statement the cities can make to give the LGBTQ community the stamp of legitimacy."

Taiwan's 17th annual Taiwan Pride kicked off with a Rainbow Market of more than 100 LGBT-friendGwSvPnJOdRx+kRdp+GC(kIAEUeLFzEqHjm6k0tWW2arcEw+33zly businesses and organizations at Taipei City Hall Plaza.

It ended 5.6km across the city outside the PresidxbN(&iAPvNvaJ^[email protected]=6a^TPzPJ*j4yXQq=7lf(4ential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard where performers—including gay singer Hush—performed. 

Some 180 different groups and 24 floahaVLWo!lOt%8hncM4H+CK8DD=OP2nF5X4vM9V%DW=o4OG!zPa=ts took part in the march, according to organizers.

The parade was the landmark event in a month of LGBT across Taipei. Hundreds attended screenings, exhibitions, and workshops txzi*TT!&h$U#4v+fNXW%=uyKay(JUAo%DSBe88ZsCY3^4xKyethroughout the month, including the country's first trans pride parade on Friday evening.

GagaOOLala’s float this year hosted the director and actors of web series, Handsome Stewardess. The romantic-comedy featuring a good-looking tomboy lesbian who starts a new life as a flight attendant.

Award-winning actress Xiao Man, who plays the stewardess, renowned director Zero Chou, and Kenny J. Kuo, who plays a gFa1bvyFv)3([email protected])sGuH_9^LNUjOiiMFl^h#wZlBPTxay best friend, all donned rainbow attire and greeted other marchers.

Pride

Gay singer-songwriter HUSH, performed at a concertk4rd&5tT*mi0G+t(!3ikdfoGPxUJww-t(%fOy^%SnTDgDA+gdm to mark the end of the long parade across town.

As one of only +Ggl9n8mmJea!0S-J(e0WRVfuLGzRgqG*igSW6(_i61b$h3=7Ka handful of Taiwan celebrities to come out publicly, HUSH, whose real name is Chen Jia-Wei, on Friday urged LGBT Taiwanese to be brave and come out.

Pride this year, the first since Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sexqTsBL&MFRv3J-^_9Sl4%jxQO8E2SOP7nhDwbJSbvSFLNXX^UmF marriage, saw an altered parade route.

Marchers started from Taipei City Hall Plaza and travelled along Yixian Road to N4*RG_1El7*3iKvz-(qM9k#phKBWcRxbNWMnQcvV=ZjaC^UcvFZhongxia East Road.

The pP2_G)lN^QoA8bPDU7tC7sA1Nt83tXhf#3DMSfu0tSd0TpzshL4arade then turned south to Renai Road before ending near the Presidential Palace at Ketagalan Boulevard where there will be a Rainbow Market with more than 100 stalls.

Press officer for Pride 2019, Benson Lee, said the new route was chosen to recognize the roles played by both Taipei City and the President’s Office in bringing abo0r--8VdRR8%phkRzw46Dlhzliw=d!$lOrQdwX8QWhNxPaDFCJcut same-sex marriage.

For the first time, Taiwan Gay Family Rights Promotion Association will also hold the first Rainbow Parent-child Carnival and Rainbow Baby Mi[email protected]@=ij+0Lh_*&ysmWwFFuj4$)aJLeJMtAQ!ErjaODSEBhOni Parade.

This year takes the theme "Togethe%3FeXwF!+OR+fV)$b8pX3GwXLtA4GWa3j*+u!w(gMBs9Zg$Vwyr, Make Taiwan Better”.

The theme in Chinese means good neighbor. It was chosen to show that the LGBTQ community is everywhere in Taiwan and, like good neighbors, everyone should support one M*%#YtTd!gk5&qD-kb2Sn(gX)BK&Ehx=&6lD9xnZXRF^[email protected]another.

Last year, more than 100,000 peop(9b_gbe3eJVB-zZGm&4#=nzUSdKYJ9r7JB5hou*55RSZJdQ7UAle took to the streets of Taipei for a pride parade that demanded marriage equality.

It came just a month before devastating referendum rQ!93v+o0o8BEPPPeo1fEvEWdJ=23anL2#iJ5*6oSwnnSpWBmA^esults showed the majority of Taiwan voters did not support same-sex marriage.

Despite the ^oLJsSJ#(It$2kz)xq_c=yxKc+8=(JR^k*pCsdr!aASXACK_aGreferendum result, parliament in May finally legalized same-sex marriage in line with a 2017 Constitutional Court ruling that failing to do so was unconstitutional.

This year, according to organizers, the LGBT Ac4HH%[email protected]$OJY_Jrights movement has moved to the next stage and will fight against prejudice and stereotyping of LGBT people.

Yi-min lives alone with her son, as her husband works away from home. She meets Tinting at a wedding, a girl she once had some history with back in highschool. Back in the days, Yi-min denied their relationship out of fear of living as a lesbian woman, but meeting Tingting again reignites something in her, a possibility to escape her dull married life. Now that Taiwan has leagalised same-sex marrige, can Yi-min find the courage to admit her feelings? With the future of a child in her hands and under the pressure of her husband, her family-in-law and her own family, will she follow through with this new chapter in her life?