Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Taipei, Taiwan today to celebrate LGBTI pride (25 October).

The proud revellers also carried a serious message of equality to parliament. They are pushing for same-sex marriage to be recognized by law.

Organizers estimated 50,000 people walked the streets of Taipei in two separate routes before converging again at the end of the march.

Supporters held multicoloured placards with the messages ‘Support gay marriage’ and ‘Walk in Queers’ Shoes’.

Organizer Albert Yang spoke about why the fight for equality is so important.

‘Conservative forces have been lobbying hard against the bill and accused us of demanding privileges, when we are asking for equal rights,’ he said.

‘Equal marriage right is a basic human right and I hope the conservative and religious groups will be more tolerant and less narrow-minded.

‘The public may just know about lesbians and gays. That still comes out of the gender binary mindset. We want to make ‘the minority of the minority’– people who are bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual — more visible.’

The focus of the pride parade this year was on those in the LGBTI community who are often overlooked and undervalued like HIV carries, sex workers and the disabled reports Outlook India.

‘Those people also need attention as they may relate to the LGBT groups. For example, a handicapped gay,’ said Yang.

Organizers made a video of the song ‘Embrace’ by Taiwanese band MayDay in sign language to make the event even more inclusive.

Famous brands like Google and Ernst and Young pledged their support to the day. Google workers posed outside their office with rainbow balloons spelling out Google to support the day.

Taiwan LGBTI pride is in its’ 12th year. In 2003, 500 people came to support the march and in 2013 over 60,000 people took part making it one of the biggest pride events in a Chinese community.

