Taiwan’s foreign ministry says the WorldPride event promoted regional diversity and equality in East Asia.
An international LGBTQ gathering in Taiwan has been canceled after global organizers called for the self-governing island’s name to be removed from the 2025 event.
Taiwan on Friday blamed “political considerations” for the cancellation of WorldPride 2025 Taiwan after saying organizers insisted that the name “Taiwan” be removed from the title.
Taiwan participates in global events like the Olympics as “Chinese Taipei” to avoid political troubles with China, which regards the democratically-ruled island as its own territory and balks at anything suggesting that it is a separate country .
Taiwan’s southern city of Kaohsiung was set to host the WorldPride 2025 Taiwan event after winning the right from global LGBTQ rights group InterPride.
Organizers in Kaohsiung said InterPride “suddenly” asked them to change the event’s name to “Kaohsiung” and remove the word “Taiwan”.
“After careful evaluation, it is believed that the event may harm the interests of Taiwan and the Taiwan gay community if continued. Therefore, it is decided to finish the project before signing the contract,” said the organizers from Kaohsiung.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Friday that the event was the first WorldPride event in East Asia and promoted regional diversity and equality.
“Taiwan deeply regrets that due to political considerations, InterPride unilaterally rejected the mutually agreed consensus and broke a relationship of cooperation and trust, leading to this outcome,” the ministry said.
“Not only does the decision disregard Taiwan’s rights and diligent efforts, it harms Asia’s vast LGBTIQ+ community and goes against the progressive principles espoused by InterPride.”
InterPride did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
WorldPride’s committee said it made the decision “in the best interests of the LGBTIQ+ community in Taiwan” and that members would step down from their posts.
Taiwan is at the forefront of a burgeoning gay rights movement. It legalized same-sex marriage in Asia for the first time in 2019 and prides itself on its reputation as a bastion of LGBTQ rights and liberalism.
The island is home to a thriving LGBTQ community, and a record 200,000 people took part in a pride march in Taipei in 2019 to celebrate the legalization of same-sex marriage.
While same-sex relationships are not illegal in China, same-sex marriages are, and Beijing is cracking down on media portrayals of LGBTQ people and the community’s use of social media.
Last year, following an outcry in Taiwan, InterPride dropped a reference to the island as a “region,” language suggesting it is not a country.