Lord knows we've prayed for a boyfriend, but a Taoist temple in Taiwan is attracting throngs of gay worshippers looking for a suitable partner.

The Wei-ming temple in Tapei, believed to be the only shrine for homosexuals in the world, draws nearly 9,000 pilgrims a year, looking for priest Lu Wei-ming to perform a love ceremony for them.

"This was a group with no one to look after them, and I wanted to fill that void," says 28-year-old Lu, who took a vow of celibacy and won't discuss his sexuality. He opened the temple in 2006 and dedicated it to Tu Er Shen, or the Rabbit God. ("Rabbit" being is historical slur for homosexuals in China.)

"What's interesting about this temple is that sexuality is particularly marked," said scholar D.J. Hatfield. "It signifies that there's an emerging public space for queer people in Taiwan."

There's even a 400-year-old legend associated with the Rabbit God:

Tu Er Shen was a once man called Hu Tianbao, who fell in love with a very handsome imperial inspector of Fujian Province. One day Hu Tianbao was caught peeping on the inspector through a bathroom wall, at which point he confessed his reluctant affections for the other man.

The imperial inspector had Hu Tianbao sentenced to death by beating. One month after Hu Tianbao's death, he is said to have appeared to a man from his hometown in a dream, claiming that since his crime was one of love, the underworld officials decided to right the injustice by appointing him the god and safeguarder of homosexual affections.

After his dream the inspector erected a shrine to Hu Tianbao, which became very popular in Fujian province, so much so that in late Qing times, the cult of Hu Tianbao was targeted for extermination by the Qing government...

According to the customs of Fujian province, it is acceptable for a man and boy to form a bond [qi] and to speak to each other as if to brothers.

Gay rights have evolved quickly on the island nation—67,000 people attended the last Taiwan Pride celebration, and parliament is currently debating a same-sex marriage bill.

Still, Lu admits he's had his share of critics: One Christian pastor tried to perform an exorcism before the altar of the Rabbit God.