A global LGBTQ event, WorldPride 2025 Taiwan, has been officially cancelled following the organisers’ demand that the word “Taiwan” be dropped from the title. Meanwhile, Taiwan on Friday blamed “political considerations” for the cancellation of the event. WorldPride Taiwan 2025 said the organisers, LGBTQ rights group InterPride, wanted to change the name of the event to say “WorldPride Kaohsiung”, the southern Taiwanese host city.
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“Taiwan deeply regrets that InterPride, due to political considerations, has unilaterally rejected the mutually agreed upon consensus and broken a relationship of cooperation and trust. Not only does the decision disrespect Taiwan’s rights and diligent efforts, it also harms Asia’s vast LGBTIQ+ community,” Taipei’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
Notably, China views Taiwan as its own territory, which is why anything that portrays Taiwan as a separate country is unacceptable to it. To avoid tensions, Taiwan has been participating in global events under the name “Chinese Taipei”.
Taiwan’s southern city of Kaohsiung was set to host WorldPride 2025 Taiwan, after winning the right from InterPride.
But the Kaohsiung organisers said InterPride had recently “suddenly” asked them to change the name of the event to “Kaohsiung”, removing the word “Taiwan”.
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“After careful evaluation, it is believed that if the event continues, it may harm the interests of Taiwan and the Taiwan gay community. Therefore, it is decided to terminate the project before signing the contract,” said the Kaohsiung organisers.
Taiwan is proud of its reputation as a bastion of LGBTQ rights and liberalism. When the island nation legalised same-sex marriages in 2019, a record 200,000 people attended a pride march in Taipei.
Meanwhile, same sex marriage is illegal in China, and the government has been cracking down depictions of LGBTQ people in the media and of the community’s use of social media.
(With inputs from agencies)
