Eight Chinese men were due to strut their stuff in front of hundreds of people yesterday at China’s first gay pageant, in a sign of new openness about homosexuality in a nation where it remains largely taboo.
The contestants are taking part in the Mr Gay China competition — which organizers say will include an underwear show — vying to represent the Asian giant at the Worldwide Mr Gay pageant in Norway next month.
“If the winner is some guy who is masculine, caring and a responsible person, this image will help society,” said Jiang Bo, 29, one of the contestants from Sichuan Province.
“Lots of people have misunderstandings about gay people, they think gay people are sissies and feminine. But it’s not true — some of them are very straight-acting, they’re totally responsible just like straight men,” he said.
Jiang says he entered the contest as a personal challenge, but there could be higher stakes.
He has not yet come out to his family, and said he hopes they won’t find out because of the pageant, which is being staged at a Beijing club and is being covered mostly by foreign media, according to organizers.
“It would be so embarrassing to the whole family — they would lose face because their son is gay,” he said.
Jiang’s comments echoes the feeling of other homosexuals in China who find it difficult to come out to their friends and family, although many say the situation has improved over the past few years.
One problem lies in the nation’s one-child policy, which makes parents rely on their only child to marry and produce grandchildren.
Homosexuality was a crime in China until 1997, and it was officially considered a mental illness until 2001. Since then, however, an increasing number of visible gay and lesbian events has taken place.
Last June, China’s first gay pride festival was held Shanghai, albeit in a very discreet fashion and with some events canceled at the last minute by the authorities.
Ben Zhang, the organizer of Mr Gay China, said he was still worried about government intervention ahead of the contest, which he hoped would help raise awareness about the country’s gay community.
“I expect the pageant will encourage those who are in their shell to be more comfortable with their sexuality,” he said.
Jiang, however, said he would not come out to his parents even if he won.
“But if they find out, I will not deny it,” he said. “Let destiny lead me.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in