TAIPEI: Tens of thousands of people marched through Taipei yesterday to push for the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Taiwan as the island marked its 10th annual Gay Pride event in colourful fashion.
“The theme this year is to fight for equal rights on marriage. Gay people are also tax-paying citizens and we demand the same basic right as any heterosexual couples,” said Mu Chuan, one of the organisers of the rally.
The parade saw revellers in flamboyant costumes, big feathered hats and swimming trunks waving placards reading “marriage” and “equal rights”.
“Even though marriage is a very personal choice, I think gay people should not be stripped of the right to choose to get married,” said Mi Feng, a software programmer from Taipei dressed in white and holding a bridal bouquet.
Taiwan is one of the most culturally liberal societies in Asia.
Thai man nabbed with 16 tiger cubs in truck
BANGKOK: A Thai man has been arrested with 16 tiger cubs in his pick-up truck while driving near the kingdom’s border with Laos, police said yesterday.
The 52-year-old was arrested Friday afternoon in Khon Kaen province in northeastern Thailand during a routine check by authorities, who found the cats, aged between six weeks and two months, in cages in the back of the vehicle.
Police said the man was paid 15,000 baht (500 dollars) to transport the tigers from Bangkok, but he denied knowing the identity of the animals’ owners.
“He said he only talked to them on the telephone not in person,” Lieutenant Colonel Kusol Pongbunchan, chief investigator of the local district police said.
Afp
