Results tagged “gay”

In typical Shanghai form, there are more Halloween parties this Saturday then you can count (including, of course, our bound-to-be fantabulous Rampage bash). But here's another option we'd love to endorse …Shanghai LGBT’s 4th Annual Halloween Pub Crawl.

Poppers, the "video head cleaner" that gay men use when they want to get their head cleaned, are now doing brisk business on Taobao, available in 10ml vials under various street names, like Rush, Jungle Juice, Locker Room and so on. These alkyl nitrites (including isobutyl nitrite, butyl nitrite, and amyl nitrite), when inhaled, have the effect of relaxing muscles throughout the body, in particular the sphincter muscles of the anus and the vagina, and have been popular among urban homosexual men and some women since the 70s as a recreational drug during sex and as a club drug.

U.S. President Obama has nominated the first openly gay person to become an ambassador and - would you look at that? - he's based in Shanghai! Shanghai Pride, for real. David Huebner heads the China Practice and International Disputes Practice of Los Angeles law firm Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton from its Shanghai office. While his position still needs to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate, he's been nominated to be ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. Source: Bloomberg

Hot off the press from Queer Comrades: this selection of ten of the most well-received Chinese language lesbian films. For those of you queer film aficionados that are interested, many of these films are actually available in your local DVD store.

Update: Due to ownership quarrels, the film Buenos Aires Zero Degree will not be screened as planned on Thursday. Vienna Café is replacing it with Stephen Daldry´s The Hours. And while that´s an awesome movie, it´s still a sad exchange, since The Hours has probably already been seen by most of us and is very easy to access - while...heaven knows when we´ll get the chance to see that Wong Kar Wai Documentary again...

In one of the more bizarre police conflict stories of late, over a hundred gay men congregated at People's Park in Guangzhou this week to protest police efforts to keep homosexuals out of the park. The police have used reports of petty crimes such as robbery and stealing to keep homosexuals out of the park, which serves as a meeting place for gay people. Protesters verbally clashed with the police after park guards attempted to force the group to leave the premises, and several protesters and volunteers were detained and questioned before the protest began.

Sail's up tomorrow night in Shanghai as the boys from Club D2 present the city's first ever gay cruise party. The boat leaves 8pm on the dot so we recommend you be there with your posse by 7.30pm if you don't want to be left behind. After that it's 3 hours of non-stop action on this cruise-to-(Nanpu Bridge?) with DJ Seth Cooper of Austin on the decks. Tickets are priced at RMB300 each and includes free flow Bacardi for the first hour, but tonight is your last chance at getting those tickets at the pre-sale rate of RMB250.

Renowned sexologist and sociologist Li Yinhe (李银河) writes in a recent blogpost on China's laws against gay blood donors. A group of lesbians in Beijing are now fighting for the right to donate blood:

• The USA pavilion has gotten a spankin' new online update now that it's finally official. [USA Pavilion]
• Who knew that the Shanghai metro was filled with so many explosives! According to China Daily, "The city's police have confiscated more than 6,000 flammable and explosive items from subway commuters since March," [China Daily]
• It's reining-in men in Shanghai's only gay English corner. [City Weekend]

Renowned sexologist and sociologist Li Yinhe (李银河) in a recent blogpost on the lives of tongqi (同妻), heterosexual women who find themselves married to gay Chinese men (translation adapted from Yawning Bread):

One of the banned events during last week´s Pride festival, was the theatrical production "The Laramie Project". But don't worry about missing it, you´ll get a new chance to watch it this weekend! The organizers have found a new venue, and the play can finally be showed at River South Art Center, on Friday and Saturday.

我想提醒你的是，这里是外交部的新闻发布厅，
不是讨论同性恋问题的场所。
What I'd like to remind you is this.This is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs press conference and not a forum for the discussion of gay issues.

                    

Shanghaiist intern Kirsti Jönson, who covered Shanghai Pride (a China first!) last week, gives us her account of the event and what it might mean for all the LGBTa living in China.

ShanghaiPRIDE commenced with a bang and, thankfully, not a bust. Mainland China's 1st Gay Pride event kicked-off yesterday with over 200 people cramming into Vargas Grill. Attendees of the inaugural event were a mix of gay, straight, local Chinese, expats, and a lovely drag queen named Anita.

Amidst all the hubbub of an unmentionable anniversary, the LGBT community has been planning it’s own great leap forward. Shanghai has been chosen for Mainland China's first Gay Pride event - Shanghai Pride!

What’s every gay woman and man talking about in China these days? Shanghai Pride, of course.

Yesterday morning, two young male to female transsexuals took to the streets of Changsha City, Hunan Province. They carried banners saying: "I want to have a sex change and live my life as a woman" and "Even if I die from it, I want a sex change, one day as a woman would be worth it".

Yes, we do! The rumors are true. Shanghai will finally have its first, real Gay Pride day on June13, 2009. While Hong Kong held their inaugural pride parade last year, this summer marks the first time mainland China will have a large-scale Pride event.

Since Shanghai was named one of the five most improved places for gay tolerance it seems that nights around town have become bolder about nailing their rainbow colours to the mast.

Even as the dust settles over last week's Academy Awards, anti-censorship advocates and gay activists across Asia continue to lambast their local television stations for the censorship of two 'Milk' acceptance speeches — one made by Sean Penn, winner of the Best Actor award, and the other by Dustin Lance Black, who picked up the award for Best Original Screenplay. Both speeches were heavily censored in 53 countries all over Asia from India to Singapore and Hong Kong.

This was taken by Ben Shipley in a rest stop on the way to the Nine Dragons Hill Resort in Zhejiang.. Help us come up with a good caption!

While we were getting gussied up for the Shanghaiist Valentine's Day party, homosexuals in Beijing were taking to the streets in a remarkably open advocation of gay marriage.

Bryanboy, the campy, witty, bitchy Filipino fashion blogger who says he's "so gay I sweat glitter" is in Beijing right now. While in the Jing, Bryanboy has been tramping around town in his Dior moon boots, visiting posh hotels, shopping at American Apparel and Uniqlo, visiting haute couture exhibits, and molesting cute boys. With so much to do, it's no wonder Bryanboy's blogging activity has been light, but he did take some time off to educate his readers on what Chinese toilets look like. Baboosh!

The Shanghai Daily reports that a 40 year old man has been arrested in Nanjing for "forcing dozens of young men" to provide gay sex services, some of whom he also forced to have sexual relations with himself. Citing the Yangtze Evening News, the report said "about 80 percent of [the man's] 'little brothers' were not gay but were forced or fooled into joining the business. The youngest was only 18." The operation supposedly catered to over 100 clients a day including "a professor from a prestigious university in Nanjing... and local government officials" (were they caught, we wonder?) who paid RMB300 for their first visit and RMB200 for repeat visits. The man took a 30% cut from his sex workers and reportedly even charged them RMB10 per condom if they asked for it.

                            

Beautiful Thing, Shanghai's first gay play directed by Michael Darragh, received two standing ovations at the Zhijiang Dream Factory last weekend. The play was followed by a pink tie party organised by Shanghai LGBT in which they crowned their Drag King and Queen of the year.

Eriksson) would rather watch rainbows and musicals than be at school and is infatuated with his athletic classmate and neighbour Ste (Derek Kwan) who has to deal with a drug-dealing brother and abusive, alcoholic father at home. Their sassy neighbour Leah (Sophie Lloyd — formerly fashion editor of SH Mag) has been kicked out of every school in the area, has a drug problem and can't stop listening to her mom's Cass Elliott records. Meanwhile, Jamie's feisty mother Sandra (Christy Shapiro) juggles her job as a barmaid and her ever-changing string of lovers, the latest of whom is Tony (JP Lopez) who is younger than her and a neo-hippie.

Zookeepers at Polar Land in Harbin, China have observed a pair of gay penguins trying to dupe other straight penguins by placing stones in front of them before waddling away with their eggs thinking no one was watching. Eventually, the straight penguins realised what their gay friends have been up to and started to actively ostracise them from their social club. Keepers had to intervene by segregating the pair of three-year-old male penguins (how cruel!) "to avoid disrupting the rest of the community during the hatching season". The odd behaviour of the gay penguins has been explained as being a manifestation of the strong paternal instinct of male penguins that exists irrespective of sexual orientation.

In September, Shanghaiist reported that Wai Tan had gone really upscale and added a gay nightclub. We’re happy to say Club D2, by the same owners of the infamous Club Deep, is still going strong.

‘Gays’ crack nearly causes international incident, says the Shanghai Daily

A CHINESE man nearly started an unintended fight with an overseas sailor when he greeted him in poorly chosen English words.

Continue reading "Chinglish, homophobia and silly sailors"

Shanghai’s #1 Fag Hag has a busy couple of weeks planned ahead. Maybe Shanghai really does deserve the title of 2008’s most improved gay life city…