Giant dress highlighting anti-gay laws on display – 台北時報

• Staff writer, with CNA

The Amsterdam Rainbow Dress, a 16m-wide artwork made up of the flags of the 68 countries where homosexuality is illegal, is on show at Taipei City Hall until Saturday.

Arnout van Krimpen, one of the dress’ creators, said he had spent six years traveling the world with the piece, which is on display at the city hall’s lobby until the 20th edition of Taiwan Pride on Saturday.

The dress is a “living” work of art, with flags removed if a country legalizes homosexuality, he said.

Since 2016, only nine countries have had their flags removed.

Van Krimpen said he felt the pace of change was too slow in the one-third of countries that still criminalize homosexuality.

“With the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress, we want to raise awareness about members of our community who are in danger of being arrested, persecuted, tortured or even murdered by the authorities just because they are who they are,” Van Krimpen said.

Guido Tielman of the Netherlands Office Taipei, which helped arrange for the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress to come to Taiwan, said his country was committed to decriminalizing sexual orientation and gender identity around the world, fighting discrimination and violence, and promoting social acceptance.

“Same-sex marriage is currently legalized in [only] 33 countries worldwide [including Taiwan],” Tielman said.

Tielman said Taiwan stood out as a pioneer as the first country in Asia to legalize gay marriage, adding that he was happy to see Taiwan Pride return to the streets of Taipei following a one-year absence due to COVID-19.

Taiwan Pride — held online last year — attracted close to 200,000 participants in 2019 and 130,000 in 2020.