In a country dominated by two-wheelers, Vietnam’s gay pride parade was fittingly on bicycle and motorbike. Organisers counted about 400 people at the start of the bike rally. Though the turnout was smaller than the 600 in the previous year, it was encouraging, they said, given the rainy weather.

"I have a lot of friends from LGBT so I’m here to support them," said Linh, a social sciences student at the Vietnam National University. The crowd grew as more joined the after-party in downtown Hanoi. A notable guest was US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius, the first gay American Ambassador to be appointed in Asia who said: “This is a country with traditional values and very big focus on family, but there is also a great openness to people who may not fit exactly that traditional mould and there is a great sense of fairness in Vietnam.”

Viet Pride organiser Nguyen Thanh Tam noted, “For a long time LGBT was a very invisible community, but now I think we’re having more and more space in Vietnamese society.” Read More