Agence France-Presse reports that a group of lesbian activists in Taiwan are planning a massive group wedding to push the country toward marriage equality.
Though same-sex marriage is not legal in Taiwan, an island located about 100 miles off the southeastern coast of mainland China, its culture is becoming friendlier toward LGBT rights. The cabinet introduced Asia’s first same-sex marriage bill in 2003, though members of parliament have yet to review it. More than 30,000 people participated in Taiwan’s LGBT Pride celebration this year, the largest in Asia. And while gay rights may not be assured by law, the “tomboy” scene—with its masculine-styled female adherents and their femme girlfriends—is a fixture on the streets of the capital Taipei. (For more on toms in nearby Hong Kong, see GO’s April 2011 Travel Issue.)
Wedding organizer AJ Wang told the news service that “we are celebrating the recent legalization of gay marriage in New York and we hope that Taiwan will make the same move in the near future,” she said. “We also want the public to see that so many gay couples are committed to each other and they deserve to be recognized and treated fairly.”
Wang reported that 1,000 people had purchased tickets to the private event, scheduled for later this month, and 60 lesbian couples planned to marry.
