Demonstrators hold Vietnam's 1st gay pride parade

AP Graphics

(AP) HANOI, Vietnam - More than 100 demonstrators are riding bicycles and motorbikes through Vietnam's capital in the country's first-ever gay pride parade to call for equal rights for gays and lesbians.

Organizer Nguyen Thanh Tam says she expects more than 150 people to join the parade that began at Hanoi's national stadium Sunday and is moving toward downtown in scorching heat while trailing rainbow-colored streamers.

Demonstrators said that Vietnamese society is starting to accept gays and lesbians, but stigmas persist.

Until a few years ago, Vietnam labeled homosexuality a "social evil" alongside drug addiction and prostitution.

But the Justice Ministry recently proposed to include same-sex couples in its overhaul of the country's marriage law. The new law could provide rights for owning property, inheriting and adopting children.

[expatriate2]

I have said that this gay campaign was of international proportions. England is also in the midst of gays demanding to be seen and tolerated. It is an intent to force the public to accept what governments will not. Having failed in 40 states in the U.S., the gay movement is now designed to indoctrinate kindergarten children to naive adults.
Homosexuality is not a normal behavior to be seen as some quirky, but acceptable, lifestyle. It is a handicap as real as a deformed or afflicted baby. It is as regretable as both, but it cannot be termed as a legitimate extension of society without declaring that society itself is equally afflicted. We should honor them as fellow human beings, but we are not required to accept, legalize or endorse their conduct with the dignity of a marriage.

[rdwain]

since when has being gay been a "lifestyle choice" i think we could learn more from other countries who have better equality than us! (such as most of Europe) We're supposed to be the worlds greatest democracy and free country but we're lagging behind with equal rights! Good on Vietnam for moving into the 21st century

[Ulgnud]

So that lifestyle choice is creating problems in Vietnam now.