Shanghai Pride Festival

As many of you know, June is LGBT pride month, and cities nationwide are hosting gay pride events. In China, however, where homosexuality was illegal until 1997, and apparently deemed a mental illness until 2001, organizers have been struggling with the creation of Shanghai’s first ever pride event.

The pride week began June 7th, and will continue through June 14th, and includes events such as open mic events, wine tasting, a presentation of the play the Laramie project, and various film screenings. However, the festival has not run completely smoothly. Police have shut down two events thus far, and threaten to shut down more, showing that homosexuality has still not been accepted by public officials. Baby steps, I guess.

Ironically, as a side note, no participants of the Shanghai Pride festival will even be able to read this blog post, as our blog is blocked in China! Kudos to my fellow bloggers who are too controversial for Chinese standards!