Do the cy live up to s reputatn as a gay hot spot?
Contents:
- CHA’S LGBT MUNY DON’T NEED WTERN ‘GAY PRI’
- LGBTQ CONFERENCE CHA'S 'GAY CAPAL' SCRAPPED
- BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG
- CHA’S TOP 10 GAYT CI
- CHENGDU, CHA’S ‘GAY CAPAL’ IS NOT GIVG IN
- LGBT NFERENCE CHA'S 'GAY PAL' SCUPPERED
CHA’S LGBT MUNY DON’T NEED WTERN ‘GAY PRI’
* gay capital china *
Cha’s gay pal Chengdu forced to adapt as ernment shuts down venu and prob NGOs.
Gay-iendly southwtern cy has long had a vibrant LGBTQ muny, ntrast wh much of the untry. So n there be a gay mec Cha? Chengdu is famo for three thgs: pandas, spicy hot pot, and a gay old time.
LGBTQ CONFERENCE CHA'S 'GAY CAPAL' SCRAPPED
Gay men margal provc like Haan are claimg spac and buildg muni their own secret worlds. * gay capital china *
The pal of Sichuan provce southwt Cha has garnered such a reputatn for s LGBT scene that some even ll “gaydu.
“It’s a ltle awkward to be hont, bee to earn that tle, [Chengdu] needs to have real cultural ntent, but actually ’s not like that, ” says Matthew Huang, a 24-year-old gay man who -found LGBTI anizatn Milks Friends, also known as Mr. In recent months, Cha has seen legal actn across a broad swath of the LGBT muny, as people, for example, fight for gay marriage rights or oppose discrimatn agast transgenr people.
Neon letters that spell out “fgerg” and “semen” English light up the bouncg dance floor at Max, a gay bar Chengdu’s Dongmen Daqiao area, the cy’s facto gayborhood. As far as Cha go, is not a bad place to be gay, says Yu Fei, the chief operatns officer for Tongle, a Chengdu-based nonernmental anizatn that has been nng sce 2002, wh a foc on gay men’s health and social well-beg.
BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG
It is not illegal to be gay Cha, but LGBTQ activists say nservative attus toward homosexualy have led to ocsnal ernment clamp-downs. * gay capital china *
“It’s much better here pared to the north, where people have more nservative attus and tradnal fay stctur; they’re ls able to accept homosexualy, ” Yu, 35, tells Sixth Tone.
For more on Chengdu, head over to for their full report where they elaborate on the mographics of the cy, more of s clive history, how is quick to embrace differenc, how beg onle has helped the cy bee more clive, and how e cizens believe the gay mec honor may be given prematurely sce there is so much more growth to go. In recent months, Cha has seen legal actn across a broad swath of the LGBT muny, as people, for example, fight for gay marriage rights or oppose discrimatn agast transgenr people. As far as Cha go, ’s not a bad place to be gay, says Yu Fei, the chief operatns officer for Tongle, a Chengdu-based nonernmental anizatn that’s been nng sce 2002, wh a foc on gay men’s health and social well-beg.
” But Chengdu’s reputatn as a gay pal only me about the digal age, Yu says. There was very seldom talk of gay issu, ” he remembers. More than 300 people om all over Cha gathered to hear speakers give TED-style prentatns on topics like genr-fluid inty, rethkg sex tn, agg as a gay man, and asexualy.
CHA’S TOP 10 GAYT CI
A more assertive, self-reliant Cha has rulted a subtle but nstant narrowg of gay spac * gay capital china *
In June, a urt Beijg accepted a lawsu by a lbian universy stunt agast Cha’s tn mistry for s failure to take actn agast homophobia universy textbooks.
To Yu Shi, the cy’s reputatn as a gay pal is a misnomer that beli the progrs that the LGBT muny still needs to achieve. ” (Hear image: A newly married uple toasts weddg guts at a gay bar Chengdu, Sichuan provce, Jan. I’ll take you to see the place where the gays go to play mahjong.
I’m here to take a tour of s gay scene and 29-year-old Ah Tao is my gui. There has been some excellent rearch to the emergence of gay and lbian inti Cha, cludg how the have been shaped by ro-Amerin ias of “gay sensibily” and characterised by “dividualy, difference, sophistitn, liberatn and morny”. One 2018 study tailed gay bars Shanghai that rivalled those of any wtern pal, the anisatn of “pri” events and the tense ntexts which “queer” film ftivals and wir cultural productn and activism occur the face of ntued regulatn by the thorarian state.
CHENGDU, CHA’S ‘GAY CAPAL’ IS NOT GIVG IN
Back 2009-10, I spent 12 months studyg Mandar Che Haan and ma iends lol gay muni. Inspired by those experienc, for the past eight years, I have been rryg out rearch wh gay men the regn and, 2018, pleted a PhD this explorg gay liv Haan.
I wanted to fd out how gay liv are lived on the margs of global LGBT polics and activism, away om ci imaged as smopolan centr of morny. My rearch explor how gay men Haan unrstand themselv, build muni and negotiate the prsur to nform to the heterosexual life script of marriage and reproductn.
I looked to how gay liv are figured out everyday teractns, how they are shaped by the spac which they unfold and how this plays out over time. Hidn gay spac. “When we get there, don’t say any gay stuff, ” Ah Tao warns me as we approach a shop the cut-out rner of a buildg at an tersectn wh an even narrower alley.
LGBT NFERENCE CHA'S 'GAY PAL' SCUPPERED
When I first beme volved gay muni Haan back 2009, I was taken by iends to the sole gay bar Haikou, the provcial pal. I later learned that the petg dynamics of centraly and obscury are characteristic of gay spac Haan.