Taipei - Taipei kicked off the 2008 Taipei Gay Carnival Friday with a series of activities that are to include Asia's largest gay pride march on September 27.

The Gay Carnival, in its ninth year, started with a composition contest for which Taiwan residents were invited to write essays entitled My Gay Friend, said Chu Hsin-yi, a Taipei city government staff member.

After the online composition contest ends September 28, the Taipei city government would select the best five articles and include them in a booklet on gay life in Taipei, which the city government plans to publish annually.

The second part of the carnival is to start October 9 with four seminars on gay and transgender rights issues, Chu said.

The highlight of the carnival, however, is the Gay Pride Parade, which was expected to draw 15,000 to 20,000 gay men, lesbians and their supporters.

"Last year's Gay Pride Parade attracted some 15,000 people, so we expect to see 15,000 to 20,000 participants in this year's parade," said Lu Hsin-chieh, press officer from the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association. Tongzhi, which means comrade, is the euphemism for gays in Chinese.

Taipei held its first Gay Pride Parade in 2002. It was attended by 500 people.

Representatives from gay rights groups in the United States, Japan, Malaysia and China plan to take part in the Taipei Gay Pride Parade. (dpa)