(Taipei) The rainbow flag has been raised in aceremony at Taipei City Hall - the first time any branch of government in Taiwanhas officially recognized the LGBT community.

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou helped hoist the flagin a plaza in front of city hall while other political leaders and a number ofgays looked on, waving rainbow colored pompoms.

"Homosexuality is a natural phenomenon that cannot be suppressed awaynor spread beyond its natural bounds. Gay rights are a part of human rights. Wewant Taipei to be a multifaceted city filled with love, peace and tolerance."

"Two years ago, I went to the Love Parade in Berlin. The mayor there,Klaus Wowereit is gay. He wasn't going to see me, but I got to talk to him for10 minutes at the parade. Also, this year in San Francisco, I met mayor GavinNewsom. We talked about gay issues and municipal Wi-Fi."

LGBT groups have been holding the celebration forthe past seven years, and each year until now the city has rebuffed efforts tohoist the flag at city hall.

This year LGBT leaders were expecting anotherletdown, but Ma surprised them by agreeing to the flag raising and funding. When the festival turned up in the civil affairs budget some city councilors andconservative groups were outraged.

Wang Ping of the Gender/Sexuality RightsAssociation, one of the organizers of the festival, said there is still much tobe done in attaining full rights for gays pointing to the issue of recognizingsame-sex relationships.

To bring that point home to the government, thegay pride parade that will wrap up the festival will feature a collective mockgay wedding ceremony.

Gay leaders say that if the government won'tpermit same-sex marriage it could at least create a civil registry such as thosein a number of American states and in most European countries.

In 2004, a study commissioned by the Taiwan Gayand Lesbian Human Rights Association found that 36 percent of Taiwan's gays havebeen harassed or discriminated against because of their sexuality.

The survey showed that the majority of harassmentcases occurred on university campuses, but almost as many cases were perpetratedby family members. A quarter of the cases occurred in the workplace.

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