China hushes up first gay pride week

Beijing – Organizers of China’s first gay pride week were struggling Thursday to find new venues for their events after police in Shanghai warned clubs and bars against joining the planned festival.
The crackdown came even as China’s state-run English-language daily was hailing the celebration as “a good showcase of the country’s social progress” and “an event of profound significance.”
Police and commercial bureau officials warned a local restaurant of “very severe” consequences if it screened films as part of the festival, says an organizer who asked not to be identified. A photo studio called off a theater performance after a similar visit.
Gay activists said the official interference illustrated official Chinese policy toward homosexual gatherings: low-key events in private spaces are tolerated; public activities are banned.
“If you attract a lot of attention and media reports, the government will intervene,” says Wan Yanhai, an AIDS activist in Beijing.
The two American women who organized Shanghai Pride week deliberately avoided scheduling any public events that would have required official permission, for fear of being banned. The festival of film, theater, literary readings, and panel discussions, however, has drawn considerable international media attention, even if the Chinese-language press in Shanghai has made no mention of the event. Most of the 500 or so people who have attended events so far have been foreigners.
There are thought to be around 35 million homosexuals in China, who face considerable discrimination in the workplace and elsewhere if they are courageous enough to come out. Homosexuality was a crime here until 1997, and classed as a mental disorder until 2001. Some government-funded medical institutes are still trying to find a “cure” for homosexuality.
Although gay websites, clubs, and tea rooms have sprung up in cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, there is still a taboo on gay culture in Chinese cinema and television. At the same time, adds Mr. Wan, “the traditional Chinese concept of the family is very conservative, and families put heavy pressure on gays to get married.” China hushes up first gay pride week
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Gay marriage advocates to reach out to churches Ventura County Star

Ventura County advocates for gay marriage plan to visit churches and synagogues as part of their effort to put the issue back on the California ballot in 2010.

“We don’t want to get into screaming and yelling matches, we just want to tell our stories,” said Lisa Hughes, a member of Equality Ventura County’s faith outreach subcommittee.

Equality Ventura County met Thursday night at the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance offices in Ventura to discuss its next step, now that the California Supreme Court has upheld the voter-approved Proposition 8 prohibiting gay marriage.

EVC is a task force that was organized to defeat Proposition 8. Its mission now is to return the issue of gay marriage to the voters.

Hughes, 49, has a 16-year-old daughter who is gay. She believes her story will touch others in various houses of worship.

Hughes said they are not going to “preach to the choir” by speaking to church groups who already support gay marriage. They also will not be targeting fundamentalist churches.

The subcommittee’s plan is to visit area mainstream churches and host panel discussions on what it’s like to be gay, or to be the relative or parent of a gay individual.

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