- Title: CHINA: Shanghai celebrates its first-ever gay pride day
- Date: 16th June 2009
- Summary: CROWD OUTSIDE GLAMOUR BAR CROWD QUEUEING TO GET INTO BAR
- Embargoed: 1st July 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: China
- Country: China
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz,Lifestyle
- Reuters ID: LVAD0ZO2MBWZM1Q5BFCB25TYBCSW
- Story Text: Hundreds turn up for first Shanghai gay pride day.
Hundreds of gay men and women, some with rainbow flags painted on their faces, turned out for Shanghai's first gay pride festival Saturday (June 13) to celebrate with cocktails, drag shows and a hot body contest.
There was no parade, and the crowd paled in comparison with similar events in Sydney or San Francisco, but some people detect a more international, open-minded attitude in China's financial capital as it prepares to host next year's World Expo and aspires to become a global financial center.
The crowd was heavy on expatriates and English speakers, rather than typical Shanghainese.
The pride day events also included traditional Chinese dance performances by drag artists flashing fans and feathers.
But a few events earlier in the week, including a film screening and a play, were abruptly canceled due to a lack of proper licenses.
Organisers said though they were disappointed with the cancellations, they still felt the festival has been a success.
"Yeah, I mean the cancellations were disappointing. There were some different reasons, basically some of the venues that we were working with didn't have the proper licenses, and so yes we were definitely disappointed that not all the events could be carried out. But out of the ten events that we've had scheduled so far, we've just had to reschedule a couple and cancel one or two, so it's overall been...
most of them have gone through really successfully," said Tiffany Lemay, a co-organiser of the festival.
The event received some favorable advance publicity in China's official English-language press.
"The festival is being hailed for making the (LGBT) community more 'visible'," the official China Daily wrote earlier this week, drawing comparisons with U.S. President Barack Obama designating June as National Gay Pride Month.
And organizers said they hoped the event could appeal to a broad array of people in Shanghai.
"Well, I hope that everyone who lives in Shanghai feels comfortable coming to this and we are definitely not trying to make it a festival for foreigners. We want this to be something that everyone feels comfortable coming to and that can raise awareness about the LGBT community in Shanghai for locals and foreigners, straights and gays. We want everyone to celebrate us with us," said Hannah Miller, another co-organiser of the festival.
One party-goer, a 27-year-old who gave his name only as Joe, compared the event to gay pride gatherings in the West.
"I think one step at a time. Coming from Sydney, this is considered quite small because like a big day out like this in Sydney will attract about five to six hundred… thousand people in the park," he said.
But others felt this was already a good step forward for the gay community in China's financial capital.
"I don't think China is very conservative now. Shanghai is developing very fast and it's becoming more and more international," said Amy Lin, a 17-year-old from Taiwan who joined Saturday's festivities.
In the evening, the crowd thronged the Glamour Bar near the city's historic Bund area for an after-party to celebrate the week-long festival.
Queues continued to form outside the bar as revelers partied and danced their hearts out inside.
Shanghai resident Coco Zhao said he was happy with the event and hoped everyone could join in the fun.
"I feel very happy that so many friends can gather here, no matter whether they are gay, straight, bi(sexual), lesbian, transsexual, no matter who you are, everyone is here for love and happiness. I feel this is the most important thing," he said.
China generally is becoming more tolerant with the gay community, but many Chinese homosexuals remain under heavy pressure within traditional families to stay in the closet. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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