SHANGHAI — It was shortly after the “hot body” contest and just before a painted procession of Chinese opera singers took the stage that the police threatened to shut down China’s first gay pride festival. The authorities had already forced the cancellation of a play, a film screening and a social mixer, so when an irritated plainclothes officer arrived at the Saturday afternoon gala and flashed his badge, organizers feared the worst.

After some fraught negotiations, Hannah Miller, an American teacher who helped put together the weeklong festival, agreed to limit the crowds, keep the noise down and, most important, “not let anything happen that might embarrass the government,” she explained after returning from the impromptu sidewalk meeting. “That was a close call,” she said.

Crisis averted, the party continued.

And so it went for Shanghai Pride week, a delicately orchestrated series of private events that revealed how far China’s gay community had come, and how much further it had to go. In the 12 years since homosexuality was decriminalized in China, there has been an unmistakable blossoming of gay life, even if largely underground. Most big cities have gay bars, and social networking sites ease the isolation of those living in China’s rural hinterland. Antigay violence is virtually unheard of.

But official tolerance has its limits. Gay publications and plays are banned, gay Web sites are occasionally blocked and those who try to advocate for greater legal protections for lesbians and gay men sometimes face harassment from the police. For years, movie buffs in Beijing have tried, and failed, to get permission for a gay film festival.

This month, public security officials forced Wan Yanhai, a prominent advocate on gay issues, including AIDS, to leave Beijing for a week because they feared he might cause trouble during the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

See

Shanghai Journal Gay Festival in China Pushes Official Boundaries

New York Times

* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual

Published by 

Original source : http://gay_blog.blogspot.com/2009/06/shanghai-jour…

Tags: 20th Anniversary, Ace, Ads, Advocate, aids, Ali, Ally, Amp, Anc, Antigay, Antigay Violence, Asia, Authorities, Ba, Beijing, Bisexual, Bloc, Blogger, Bod, Body Contest, Border, Bound, Cal, Cancellation, Cher, China, Chinese Opera, Clothes, Coord, Crackdown, Crowd, Crowds, Ego, Era, Eric, Erica, Eve, events, Face, Fear, Film Fest, Film Screening, Fir, Fo, Fr, gay, Gay Bar, Gay Bars, Gay Community, Gay Festival, Gay Film, Gay Film Festival, Gay Issues, Gay Life, gay men, Gay New, Gay News, Gay Pride, Gay Pride Festival, Gay Publication, Gay Publications, Gay Web, Gay Web Sites, Gin, google, Gove, Grou, Hannah, Hannah Miller, Harassment, Hes, Hine, Homo, Homosexual, Homosexuality, Hot, Hot Body, Hs, Ids, Images, Irs, Isolation, Larg, Ld, Lea, Lead, Leads, Led, Legal Protections, lesbian, Lesbian News, Lesbians, Living In China, Loc, Lot, Lt, Map, Met, Mis, Movie Buffs, Mp, Mu, Nan, Nbsp, New York Times, Nme, Nyt, Nytimes, Occasion, Offi, Opera Singers, Organize, Organizer, Organizers, Original Source, Pac, Pl, Plays, Pos, pride, Pride Festival, Procession, Prom, Rea, Reed, Rig, Rita, Roun, Rr, Sec, sex, Sexuality, Shanghai, Shap, Sidewalk, Sidewalk Meeting, Sig, Sin, Singers, Sit, Social Mixer, Social Networking, Social Networking Sites, Sourc, Tag, Target, Ted, Tent, Tia, Tiananmen Square, Tiananmen Square Crackdown, Ties, Tolerance, Transgender, Uni, Url, Vet, Violence, Weeklong Festival, Wh, Wor

Shanghai gay pride: the show goes on

A colourful show of drag queens dressed in Chinese opera costumes was one of the festivities that marked Shanghai’s gay pride on Saturday, the first in China where homosexuality remains largely hidden.

A “Big Bash” barbecue Saturday — billed as the highlight of the week-long festival — went ahead as planned in a bar despite previous last-minute event cancellations by local authorities that marred the “Shanghai Pride.”

Drag and fashion shows and a ‘hot body’ competition took place at Cotton’s bar attended by at least 500 people, in a garden that was hidden from view by a rainbow banner covering the surrounding fence.

Later Saturday night, two fake gay marriages were to take place before people were ferried onto buses to go to an afterparty at a bar on Shanghai’s famous Bund promenade.

“We would have liked the whole week to go without cancellations, but today everything has happened as we wanted it to, so we’re happy,” said Kenneth Tan, spokesman for organisers Shanghai LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender).

Events for “Shanghai Pride” have been organised at private venues without a public parade — in stark contrast to similar events elsewhere in the world — to avoid attracting unwanted official attention.

But still, city authorities forced the cancellation of a film screening and a play during the festival, and the two venues hosting the “Big Bash” events Saturday had received calls from officials, according to Tan.

He said police had come to Cotton’s Saturday where expatriates and Chinese people mingled but soon left.

Liu Yang, a 27-year-old Chinese homosexual who was enjoying the shows Saturday, said he was amazed by the festival.

“I’ve never been abroad, and I have really wondered how such an event could take place so smoothly — I’m really nicely surprised,” he said.

See Shanghai gay pride: the show goes on AFP - ‎4

China Hushes up First Gay Pride Week ABC News

Obama and Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender pride month Examiner.com

Organisers hope gay party is on Straits Times

* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual