Fridae

Eight brave gay young men are in the running to be crowned Mr Gay China next Friday. The winner of the competition, which is held for the first time in China, will represent his country at the Mr Gay World Ambassador pageant to be held in Oslo, Norway in February.

The finals will see the contestants aged between 24 and 30 - in sportswear and swimsuit segments, and a Q&A session - put their best leg forward to convince a panel of judges and audience at the finals why he is the “quintessential young man that is representative of China.”

Although organisers declined to reveal the total number of applications received, Ryan Dutcher, co-founder & Communications Director of Gayographic, a website and events and public relations company, said they are pleased with the number of applicants despite the challenges of coming out as gay in a contest like this one.

Dutcher, an American based in Beijing, told Fridae that despite having spoken to “many qualified and competitive candidates” about taking part in the contest, many are reluctant to be in the spotlight.

“Though most lead relatively open lives... and may be very active in the gay community and dedicated to the cause, they still tend to hide their sexuality from employers, old classmates, even family. They are afraid if they enter this competition, with all of its media exposure, they will not be able to keep their sexuality hidden from those people.”

Despite the challenges, he says he’s happy that they were able to attract “many qualified candidates that are completely out to everyone and are not afraid to be the face of gay China.”

The 30-year-old PR consultant told Fridae that although the competition is open to all, only citizens of China have applied. Most of the eight contestants reside in Beijing and hail from as far away as Harbin, Chongqing and Xinjiang while three are Beijing natives.

The website says judges will be looking for ‘inner beauty’ in addition to physical attributes.

Top row (left to right): Steven, David, Xiao Dai, Emilio;
second row: Simon, Xuefei, Jay, Justin

Note: The results of this poll will not affect the outcome of the official contest.

“The Mr Gay China competition is much more than a beauty contest. While physical beauty will be part of the judges’ considerations, it is a young man’s character and personality that will make a difference in the selection."

The winner will be chosen by the audience at the event, whom they believe will be the best representative of gay China, among the final three candidates who are selected by the judges

Although homosexuality was officially considered a mental illness until as recently as 2001, gay events in China have been neutrally, if not positively, covered by local media in recent years.

Co-organiser and Managing Director Ben Zhang was recently quoted in media reports as saying that mainstream media will not be invited to the pageant as he is concerned that overexposure might result in “unnecessary difficulties.”

While he did not elaborate on what those difficulties might be, several events at the country’s first gay pride parade held in Shanghai in June this year were cancelled. Organisers of the festival however say the reasons for the cancellation of two film screenings and a play and were due to licensing issues rather than them being gay linked.

Dutcher explains that the organisers have been focusing most of their outreach to international media and local bloggers, and not to the local media given the “complicated situation” and the “possibility of increased scrutiny from the authorities.”

An estimated 15 million to 30 million of its 1.3 billion population (1.15 or 2.3 percent) is believed to be gay.

The Mr Gay China competition will be held on January 15 at LAN Club in Beijing.

Correction (Jan 12, 2009): In the article, Fridae reported that three of the contestants are Beijing natives based on information provided by organisers. Organisers on Monday however confirmed that while six of the contestants are based in Beijing, none of the eight contestants are from the capital city.