Shanghai surprise: Pride celebrates its fifth year

June 14 the LGBT community in Shanghai will come together to celebrate its fifth anniversary. The eight-day event will be host to the usual assorted revelry, shirtlessness and tight Lycra short shorts. But amid the festivities, a note of seriousness will underscore what many see as an accomplishment in and of itself. “A week-long string of events has been planned to boost the LGBT’s community position in China and raise awareness around LGBT themes including marriage equality, sexual health and societal acceptance,” note event organizers.

While miniscule by Western standards, the 800 or so people that showed up for both last year’s opening and closing day festivities, demonstrated to the Chinese that a voice was emerging in a country where approval of same-sex marriage now hovers around 30 percent.

“We’re very optimistic that this year will be the biggest and most fun Pride yet, but more importantly it will be the most significant in terms of content,” said Dylan Chen, one of the event organizers. “With a greater focus on equality, advocacy and sexual health we hope that we can bring together people in a more meaningful way than we have done in the past. It’s time to stop being afraid of confronting the issues that seemed daunting to us before, it’s time for us to come together as a community and share our experiences and knowledge for the benefit of our society.”

This year’s Pride plans on showcasing independent queer cinema, too. The goal, event organizers state, is to make the Shanghai Gay and Lesbian Film Festival the largest of its kind in China in several years. This year’s Pride will also feature art and theatre performances.

It’s estimated that there are nearly 30 million gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in China many of whom are forced into cooperative marriages (xinghun) because of the intense social pressure to get married. But with each passing year, the growth of Pride events across China shows that change, however slow, will free thousands of young people to live their lives openly.