Hundreds of LGBT Vietnamese and their supporters have gathered in a Hanoi park for the ‘Toi Dong Y’ festival to call for marriage equality while the government decides what to do on the issue.

The large crowd gathered Sunday morning with rainbow flags and balloons to watch a gay couple and a lesbian couple marry symbolically and cheered then they threw their wedding bouquets.

The event also received a lot of support online, with nearly 60,000 liking it on Facebook.

Event organizer Le Quang Binh of Vietnam’s Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE) told the Voice of America that he believed the reform would be achieved eventually.

‘I believe in people and I think that when everybody speaks out, everyone has to listen whoever you are,’ Binh said.

‘That’s why we do it this way. We mobilize public opinion, LGBT, students, young people so when people speak their opinion, politicians will have to listen.

‘I believe that politicians are also human beings. They need time to understand.’

The Vietnamese Government will consider revising its Marriage and Family Law on 5 November.

Two government ministers have said they support allowing same-sex couples to marry but Justice Minister Ha Hung Cuong believes a gradual transition towards allowing same-sex marriage may be the best way to achieve the reform.

Cuong also wants the age at which men and women can get married to be equalized at age 18 as part of that.

Currently the marriageable age for boys is 20 and 18 for girls.