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In Hanoi, Vietnam, this Sunday Gay Pride, renamed "Hanoi Pride", was an opportunity for the country's LGBT community to demand more rights. While homosexuality remains taboo in Vietnam, the LGBT community welcomes a number of recent measures signaling a shift in authorities.
With our correspondent in Ho Chi Minh City, Frédéric Noir
This is undoubtedly one of the biggest paradoxes of Vietnamese society. The country, ruled by an authoritarian communist regime that does not hesitate to imprison bloggers and political dissidents, is also now one of the most progressive in Asia to treat its homosexual and transgender population.
A radical change of attitude compared to 15 years ago when this sexual orientation was still considered a mental health problem. Since then, prejudices have given way to some form of liberalism and the taboo surrounding homosexuality is eroding.
It is now very common to see gay and transgender presenters, singers and singers on television, which has certainly helped to change attitudes in a country still marked by the values of Confucianism.
On the government side, some argue that the authorities want to give themselves a progressive appearance at a time when the rigidity of the regime is increasingly criticized, especially on social networks.
In the end, the LGBT cause is progressing. Now, people who have changed their sex have the right to ask for a change in their civil status and Parliament has repealed the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
However, the country is not yet ready to legalize gay marriage and discrimination persists. According to a recent UNESCO study, 70 percent of Hanoi's parents said they would not allow their child to talk to another student if he or she was homosexual.