Fridae

Top gay news
1. China rejects gay marriage proposal

A proposal to legalise same sex marriage was rejected by China's parliament at last March's National People's Congress. This was the third time for renowned sexologist Li Yinhe to suggest such a change in the law, and the third time discussion was rejected. Her previous two attempts were in 2003 and 2005. Li is a member of a parliamentary advisory body.

"(Parliamentary spokesman) Wu Jianmin� said the legislation for homosexual marriage was a little bit beyond our current situation," Li said. "But we can see from this that the social attitude towards homosexuality has very much improved in China in the past few years."

Li, a professor of sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said despite this setback she believed that same sex unions in China will be legal some day. She had suggested the legislature pass a law to allow gays and lesbians to marry each other and to change the term "husband and wife" in the current marriage law to "partners."

According to Li, a majority of China's public support gay marriage. A recent online survey came out with 63 percent of respondents saying they back same sex unions.

2. China okays first gay student union
A university in southern China has given its approval for the country's first gay and lesbian student union. Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen) university in Guangdong province's Zhuhai okayed the group, Happy Together, in October last year.

Media reports quoted the union's chairwoman Liao Mingzhu as saying: "Happy Together welcomes members of diverse sexual orientations, and will focus on anti-Aids education and promoting awareness of [homosexual] issues, in an effort to foster a campus atmosphere of equality, tolerance and mutual respect."

The union was originally a reading group that studied queer theory and had about 50 members.

Happy Together is the first officially approved openly gay student union. However, many of China's universities have gay groups that hide under umbrella organisations so they don't have to use the word gay in their application for approval. Beijing's Minorities University and Shanghai's Fudan University, for example, have been running gay unions for several years.

3. NGO sets up China's first free national helplines for gays and lesbians
A Hong Kong based NGO has set up two national free helplines for gays and lesbians in China. The Chi Heng Foundation established its gay hotline in May and the lesbian service in November. Both lines are run by volunteers in Shanghai.

Rager Shen, Chi Heng's mainland officer for MSM (men who have sex with men) said the gay helpline gets around 20 calls a session and that the most common problem is related to fears that homosexuality is a disease.

"We get so many calls from people confused about their sexual orientation, worried that being gay is not normal and they should go to the hospital," Shen said. "We also have callers who are being blackmailed because they are gay and others who are under pressure to get married."

There are scores of helplines for gays and lesbians around the country, and at least one aimed at helping parents of gay children. The Chi Heng Foundation's hotlines are the country's first free and national numbers.

The hotline is at 800-988-1929; phones are manned weekdays 7-9pm, Saturday 4-9pm and Sundays 3-6pm for men. Women volunteers will answer questions Saturdays 2-4 pm.

What they're saying�

Name: Darren Tang
Age: 36
Where: Beijing (but hails from Singapore)
What he does: Founder of Promen, a gay networking group, project director in entertainment

æ: What was the most important development for gays and lesbians in China in 2006?
"The Chinese government started to reach out to gays by setting up this website about HIV and AIDS. It was a good sign that the government is trying to communicate with the gay community."

æ: What were you most disappointed by?
"I hear the response to the gay website, and this gay clinic that was also set up, wasn't that great. A lot of gays here were worried about coming out to anyone, they were worried that the site was just a way to target them."

æ: What are your hopes for 2007?
"That more people will come out and join in social activities. We need more people to get involved for gay restaurants, activities, bars and everything to survive. And we need more windows, more things for gay people to get involved in. You know, people are so hungry for friendship, for a social gathering besides logging onto the Internet and going to clubs."

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Name: Xian
Age: 34
Where: Beijing
What she does: Founder of Common Language, a Beijing-based lesbian support group.

æ: What was the most important development for gays and lesbians in China in 2006?
"The opening of (China's first gay) student union is definitely the number one hit for LGBT rights this year. It will inspire the spread of other gay and lesbian student groups around the country� It's also great that (politician and sexologist) Li Yinhe bought up the same-sex marriage proposal and writes about this issue in her blog."

æ: What were you most disappointed by?
"Xu Fei a top seeded singer was kicked out of the (televised) Super Girl singing competition after rumours she was a lesbian (were posted on the Internet). Also there are too few lesbian groups because there are not enough social resources and support."

æ: What are your hopes for 2007?
"For next year we hope there will be a continuation of this steady growth in rights. And we hope there will be many more local groups forming which deal with gay issues."

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Name: Bing Lan
Age: 31
Where: Beijing
What he does: Runs aibai.com, a Chinese-language gay news website

æ: What was the most important development for gays and lesbians in China in 2006?
"There have been a lot of gay news in China this year, it's really hard to think of the most important news. I guess the biggest development is that the government is more supportive about gay NGO's that help with Aids education. A lot of groups have been allowed to organise, the government has been much more relaxed in letting them do their work, letting them be independent."

æ: What were you most disappointed by?
"The police in Tianjin raided a gay sauna and made some arrests earlier this year. That was a big setback."

æ: What are your hopes for 2007?
"That there will be more public debate about gays and lesbians and not just about gays and HIV. And that there will be laws to protect us."

Next page: New/top gay establishments/resources in China

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New/top gay establishments/resources in China

Beijing
Destination: 7 Gongti Xilu, Chaoyang District, Beijing; tel: 01-65515138; www.bjdestination.com
The capital's most popular gay club got bigger in 2006 with an add-on spacey lounge and caf�.

Promen: groups.yahoo.com/group/promen
An English-speaking gay professional social networking group. Has become very popular: organises trips, parties and meets every Thursday night at Beijing cocktail lounge, Q Bar.

Les+ magazine: www.lesplus.org
Run wholly by volunteers, this new, monthly, free, Chinese-language magazine is packed with features and fiction for and about lesbians. Pick it up at lesbian hangouts in Beijing including West Wing and the Saturday Salon.

Chaoyang Chinese Aids Volunteer Group: Chaoyang District CDC Room 1003, 25 Huawei Li, Panjiayuan, Chaoyang District, Beijing; tel: 10-87789709; www.hivolunt.net
This clinic began offering free, anonymous testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases in October. It's targeted at guys, but anyone can use the service.

aibai:www.aibai.com
The best serious Chinese-language gay and lesbian resource on the web inside China. Includes news, features, fiction and reviews.

Shanghai
Frangipani Bar & Caf�: 399, Da Gu Road, Jing An District, Shanghai; tel: 21-53750084; www.frangipanibar.com
Newly opened black and steel lounge; Tuesdays are lesbian nights.

Club Deep: 1649 Nanjing Xilu, inside Jing An Park, Jing An District, Shanghai; tel: 21-62487034; www.clubdeep.cn
Huge white funky club, teeming at weekends and shamelessly slutty.

Shanghai Studio: #4, 1950 Huaihai Zhonglu, Shanghai; tel: 21-62831043; www.shanghai-studio.com
New underground maze of a bar, riddled with little nooks and crannies. Also incorporates foxy underwear store for men, MANifesto,

PinkHome: 18 Gaolan Lu, Shanghai; tel: 21-7008-210-210-138; www.pinkhome.cn
Old favorite Home&Bar gets a makeover and reopens in a different colour.