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Interview: Coco Zhao, from jazz to M. Butterfly
2007 was a great year for Shanghai's LGBT community. Brimming with events and parties that forced us to dig up photographic evidence to remember, the one-year old and 650+ member ShanghaiLGBT group really got into its stride this year, organizing events for all of the crazy and diverse characters in the group. The growth of the LGBT community in Shanghai was evident at this year's second annual LGBT Pub Crawl, where people were turned away after around 200 people signed up for slots on the two large coach buses. The event left people saying, "Can we do this every month?"
ShanghaiLGBT wasn't the only newsmaker this year, however. Here the top five Shanghaiist LGBT stories of 2007:
Shanghai's first ever Pride celebration
In early July, ShanghaiLGBT organized the first ever Pride celebration in our city with a film workshop conducted by two lesbian filmmakers and a "Seven Deadly Sins" party. Although it wasn't as large as the Pride celebrations around the world, it was just the beginning of Shanghai Pride.
In an interview that was later uploaded to Youku, Chinese actor Sun Haiying was quoted as saying that homosexuality was "criminal in nature". The comments immediately sparked outrage and later prompted China Daily's columnist Raymond Zhou to write a column on the subject. Lo and behold, one of the leaders of the Westboro Baptist Church, Shirley Phelps-Roper, commented on the article from their base in Topeka, Kansas. Since we published this story, the comment from Shirley Phelps-Roper has been deleted.
Premiere of Chinese online LGBT programs
Two online programs debuted this year focusing on LGBT issues in China - Gay Connections, Queer As Folk, and Comrades Must Carry On (their website appears to have disappeared). Even though it appears that both Gay Connections and Queer As Folk aren't broadcasting anymore and Comrades Must Carry On never really got off the ground, it was still an achievement nonetheless.
On a very hot night during the summer, Shanghai Studio hosted a drag party, sponsored by ShanghaiLGBT. Gender confusion and pantyhose sweat permeated the cramped corridors of Shanghai Studio, a smell party we won't soon forget. With hundreds of people in attendance, it was the group's largest party of the 2007.
Deep closes and everyone panics
On Halloween, the Shanghai police (dressed as clubbers) busted Club Deep for drugs, causing widespread confusion and frustration among the LGBT community. After the closure, most of the crowds headed to PinkHome on weekend nights or just stayed at home.
The embedded video is one of several internet videos that came out this year profiling the LGBT community in Shanghai.
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