This year, all contingents followed the same route, generally moving in a straight line westward from Taipei City Hall before turning south by the Shandao Temple area and then turning west to arrive on Ketagalan Boulevard. This differs from previous years, in which the pride parade began and ended on Ketagalan Boulevard after splitting into contingents that took different routes across Taipei before returning to the starting point. The pride parade began today at 12 PM, setting out from Taipei City Hall and walking to Ketagalan Boulevard, in front of the Presidential Office Building. Over 1,000 participated in the march, an unexpectedly large turnout. One day before the parade, the first-ever Taiwan Trans March took place, starting at the Nishi Honganji Temple and marching in a circular route through Ximending yesterday. The Taiwanese government promoted the event with signs welcoming visitors to the pride parade in Taoyuan International Airport, advertisements for the event on banners in Taipei, an exhibition on the history of LGBTQ activism in Taiwan, and through a rainbow crosswalk in Ximending, a center of LGBTQ nightlife in Taipei. While international visitors came from a number of countries, contingents from geographically close Asian countries or territories, such as Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, and South Korea, were particularly visible. With many international visitors, the large turnout today was in part due to Taiwan making history earlier this year as the first country in Asia to legalize gay marriage. Last year’s pride parade drew 130,000, meaning that attendance has nearly doubled between this year and last year. This makes today’s march-the 17th iteration of the annual pride parade-the largest ever in the history of the event. MORE THAN 200,000 participated in this year’s Taiwan LGBT Pride today, according to organizers.