A drag show and a “hot body” contest were due to mark China’s first gay pride festival yesterday, in a country where homosexuality remains largely hidden, after authorities stopped several events.
The week-long Shanghai Pride festival of art exhibitions, film screenings, workshops and plays has been marred by last-minute cancelations by local authorities, citing a lack of proper authorization.
But organizers — foreigners living in the city — said they are hopeful the showcase events of the week, a “Big Bash” barbecue at a Shanghai restaurant and a party at a bar, will go ahead.
“Today is the highlight of the gay pride,” said a spokesman for Shanghai LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender), the event organizer.
“We envisage this as a family, carnival day, and it’s as close as we can get to a parade,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The spokesman confirmed that city authorities forced the cancelation of a film screening and a play, and said the two venues hosting the “Big Bash” events had received calls from officials.
Events for Shanghai Pride had been organized at private venues without a public parade — in stark contrast to similar events elsewhere in the world — to avoid attracting unwanted official attention.
“Today, we’re just keeping our fingers crossed that we can end the whole festival on a positive note,” the spokesman said.
“I don’t think the central government is trying to stop our events. I think it’s more of a local intervention. But this has a very intimidating effect on our audience, especially the Chinese audience,” he said.
Kathleen’s Five restaurant was forced to cancel a planned screening of a lesbian-themed film after local officials said it was not authorized to screen movies, he said.
The authorities also forced the cancelation of a play that was to be performed at a local photo gallery on Friday night.
The China Daily newspaper said on Friday: “The cancelation of film screenings might have been to do with the films’ content and China’s rules on public advertisements.”
The Shanghai Pride spokesman said uniformed police officers entered a venue hosting a gay literary event on Tuesday evening.
“Nothing happened but if you’re in the audience and you see policemen arrive, it’s really intimidating,” he said.
A “Queer Olympiad” that will include swimming and badminton competitions is planned for Sunday, the final day of the festival.
Homosexuality has long been a sensitive subject in China, with gay sex decriminalized only in 1997, while homosexual behavior was officially viewed as a mental disorder until 2001.
Nevertheless, Shanghai is more tolerant of its gay community than most Chinese cities, with bars that attract an exclusively gay clientele.
The China Daily estimates there are 30 million homosexuals in China, or less than 3 percent of the population.
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