Vietnam hosts gay pride parade as attitudes soften
BY Agencies4 Aug 2014 11:06 PM GMT
Agencies4 Aug 2014 11:06 PM GMT
Around 300 activists led a colourful parade through Hanoi on Sunday in the nation’s largest ever gay pride event, as communist Vietnam shows signs of increasing tolerance of sexual difference. The city streets were awash with rainbow flags, as a mainly young crowd cycled and danced through the capital urging an end to discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
Homosexuality remains taboo in Vietnam, but a series of gradual advances, including the removal of fines for same-sex wedding parties, have been welcomed by the LGBT community in recent years.
In 2012 lawmakers even briefly considered legalising gay marriage -- a move which would have thrust the authoritarian country to the forefront of gay rights in Asia -- but stopped short.
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