SameSame.com.au ~ Inside Out Australia

Gay Pride Comes To China

International News, By Joal, 10th June, 2009

Gay pride has arrived in China, but in a very different style. No parades or marches are planned, but participants this week can take part in a pride festival in Shanghai, the first of its kind in mainland China.

Kicking off last weekend, the week long pride festival aims to increase the visibility of China’s gay community – although, many of the events are being held on private residences and all promotional material is printed in English. Organisers were advised by lawyers that these precautions would mean less chance of being shut-down by authorities.

Homosexuality was decriminalised in 1997 and stopped being listed as a mental illness in 2001, but organisers say homophobia still exists in China today. Criticised by some as still having ‘one foot in the closet’ because the Shanghai based festival has no public marches planned, straight American-based organiser Tiffany Lemay recently defended the decision.

“Since public marches aren’t an option here, we’ll just keep doing what we do. I don’t think public marches are the only way to achieve our goals. There are still so many things that can be done that aren’t done yet,” Lemay told UK Telegraph.

Referred to as a ‘commuinty building exercise’ by organisers, they’re hoping the festival will encourage more of China’s gay community to come out, and will ‘build bridges’ between the gay and straight community and within the gay community itself. With a number of the organisers and participants identifying as straight, Lemay says evidence of the festival’s success is already there.

A Chinese academic recently told the BBC he believed the festival, and China’s gay community would find acceptance.

“Ordinary people won’t be surprised, or shocked about this,” says Sociology lecturer Yu Hai from Shanghai’s Fudan University.

“In the past homosexuals were regarded as bad people, nowadays no-one thinks they are bad, but they are still considered to be ‘alternative’. What’s changed is that people think they are alternative, but they believe they should have their own rights, be able to make their own choices.”

Similar pride festivities were planned for Bejing in 2005, but venues and events were raided and shutdown by authorities. Shanghai Pride Festival is therefore the first successful celebration of gay pride in mainland China. The festival runs until June 14.