Fridae

Tokyo?s shopping district of Shibuya will come alive with the city?s biggest gay pride festival this weekend. Some 4,000 participants are expected during the weekend festivities, including Saturday's pre-parade party.

While the organisers of the 2001 Tokyo Lesbian and Gay Parade hope that the parade would gain positive social recognition for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered persons, they disclaimed having any specific political agenda.

A recent press release read: "We are not marching to claim victimization through discrimination, but rather raise awareness that sexuality is only one of many ways people express themselves, and freedom of expression is vital to finding happiness? This event is in no way held with a specific political agenda, allowing us all to individually, freely express any ideas we find important."

One of the parade?s aims is to celebrate sexual diversity among individuals including bisexuals, transsexuals, transgenders, intersexuals, gays, lesbians and all sexualities that may or may not fit within the term "homosexual."

The Tokyo Lesbian and Gay Parade began in 1994 but was discontinued as a large-scale event in 1996 and was only revived last year.

Other events include a pre-festival party, GLORY(Gay and Lesbian Open-air Rainbow partY) to be held on Saturday at Yoyogi Park Event Space from 1pm-8pm and will be the first open-air, outdoor LGBT celebration in Japan, according to the press release.

A symposium entitled, "2001 Tokyo Human Rights Forum-On the Rights of LGBT-identified Persons and PHA's (People with HIV/AIDS)" will also held. The forum will discuss "the treatment of homosexuality in national and local government policies as seen in Ministry of Justice reports and Tokyo government outlines."

Schedule of events
Pre-Parade Party, GLORY
Date/time: August 25, 2001 Saturday/1pm-8pm
Venue: Yoyogi Park Event Space
- Gay and Lesbian Amateur Musician Concert (1pm-4pm)
- Drag Queen Performance by the best from all over Japan (4pm-8pm)

2001 Tokyo Human Rights Forum-On the Rights of LGBT-identified Persons and PHA's
Date: August 26, 2001 Sunday/10:30am-12:30pm
Venue: Yoyogi Park Event Space

2001 Tokyo Lesbian and Gay Parade
Date/time: August 26, 2001/1:30pm (sign-up begins 10:30am)
Start: Yoyogi Park Event Space
Route: From Yoyogi Park Event Space down Park Street (Koen-dori) to the front of Shibuya Parco and Marui, down Meiji-dori to the front of Laforet in Harajuku and back to Yoyogi Park

Taipei, Taiwan
Over in Taiwan, the Second Taipei City Gay and Lesbian Festival will take place on Friday and Saturday. The government funded event aims to highlight the vitality and brightness that homosexuals share with heterosexuals, reports the Taipei Times. This year's festival also includes a sports tournament and games as well as community lectures that began two weeks ago and will continue until September 10.