60 People, 60 Stories

Crying out loud

By Kenneth Tan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-30 08:27

Seven years ago, I came as a wide-eyed, fresh university graduate to the bright lights of Shanghai on a one-way ticket.

I found a city that, for all its amazing and eye-opening ways, had very little to offer to gay people like myself.

Nightlife options were limited. Online information was scarce. There were few avenues where members of the local gay and lesbian community could meet and connect with each other.

Yet, there was a certain freshness and energy in the young, nascent scene that ushered in the metamorphosis that I witnessed in the years between then and now. An explosion. And the journey has been an exhilarating one.

Today, a plethora of bars, clubs and cafes cater to different segments within the community. The city even has its own little "gayborhood" located within the former French Concession, as well as various sports and interest groups meeting across town weekly.

This year, Shanghai hosted the Chinese mainland's very first gay pride season - an event that was feted by China Daily as "an event of profound significance for the country and the world" and one that did not escape the attention of the international media.

All across China, a quiet revolution is brewing as a whole new generation of gay men and women across different age groups are coming out for the very first time.

The personal liberation that these individuals are experiencing will have a profound and lasting impact even as modern Chinese society continues to open up and embrace diversity.

Homosexuality, after all, is not a Western import. It has always been part and parcel of China's history - documented well beyond the often-cited stories of the "leftover peach" (yto) and the "cut sleeve" (dunxi).

Today, China is home to the world's largest gay population - 30 million by the most conservative estimates. And with that comes a heavy responsibility.

Much needs to be done for the invisible and long disenfranchised Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community, but there remains much to be hopeful for.

I see hope in the eyes of some of the young men I have met who set off from their village straight to Shanghai's gay bars in search of freedom.

The echoes of this hope reverberate around the world today and it is a voice crying out loud to be heard.