The Shanghai Daily reports on July 15, 2010:

The event was almost canceled due to pressure from some government departments. The very small online announcement was removed from several websites "just in case," one of the organizers said yesterday.

Yet some 30 participants, both Chinese and expatriates, gathered in a grassy corner of the UK Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo last night - mostly unnoticed in the semi-darkness – for a Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender get-together. 

Core members from nearly 10 Shanghai-based LGBT organizations gathered outside the "Seed Cathedral" to chat about the progress and the future of LGBT communities in China.

Though the numbers were small, the gathering was in the same spirit as the seventh Pride London Parade on July 3, which drew 1 million people, an organizer said. 

The participants appreciated efforts of the British Embassy in Beijing and the British Consulate-General Shanghai for organizing the event. 

It is rare in China, where LGBT-related issues and events are still sensitive. 

"It just fits here, in the UK Pavilion, to show the amazing diversity and contributions of the LGBT community, which is a part of UK life," organizer Kathryn Rand from British Embassy told Shanghai Daily. 

It was the first LGBT event the embassy organized in Shanghai and second in China. The embassy held a similar gathering in Beijing on May 17 to mark International Day Against Homophobia.