Vietnam Holds First-Ever Gay Pride Event - East Idaho News
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Vietnam Holds First-Ever Gay Pride Event

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GETTY W 080612 VietnamGay?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1344245785108HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/GettyImages(HANOI, Vietnam) — Just a few years ago, the Vietnamese government considered homosexuality a “social evil.”  But on Sunday, 100 gays and lesbians gathered in Hanoi for the country’s first-ever gay pride event.

They rode on bicycles and motorbikes — the only way to get around in the capital — while trailing rainbow-colored streamers.

Many in the country still consider homosexuality taboo, but there are signs that things are beginning to loosen up.

There has been talk of Vietnam’s Justice Ministry changing laws that would allow same-sex couples to legally wed — a first for Asia.  Such action might show that the country is trying to improve its human rights record, regarded as one of the world’s worst.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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