Thousands of revelers joined Hong
Kong's annual LGBT Pride parade and march on Saturday.
According to the AFP, roughly 10,000
revelers joined this year's event. Police estimated the crowd at
2,000.
While gay sex has been legal in Hong
Kong since 1991, the city does not recognize same-sex couples and the
LGBT community has limited protections against discrimination.
Revelers gathered at 2 PM in Victoria
Park and marched through the streets of Hong Kong waving rainbow
flags as they made their way to Edinburgh Place in front of City
Hall, where they listened to performers and heard speeches.
This year's theme was “Turn the tide;
walk with pride. Discrimination says goodbye.”
A 14-year-old activist who identified
herself as Morgan told the AFP that she didn't think Hong Kong was
ready to accept equal rights but remained optimistic about the
future.
“There are many people with
traditional mindsets here, so for the LGBT community many people
should … start speaking out for themselves or else there will be no
freedom and we won't have our own rights. I think many people now,
especially the youngsters, are starting to support this and because
they're the future of our society I think we should be optimistic,”
she
said.
Hong Kong held its first official Pride
parade in 2008.