All dressed up, nowhere to go
The disappointment in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is palpable as Hong Kong’s annual Pride Parade has been cancelled. It’s all a bit of a mess, writes Sarah Simpson
It’s that time of year when we should be unfurling our rainbow flags, dressing with fabulous flair, and taking to the streets to celebrate with pride the LGBT people and society. Whether gay, bisexual, or straight we should be pulling on our dancing shoes and singing out about the sexual freedoms and diversity of Hong Kong. In fact, we really should be awaiting the arrival of Hong Kong’s third annual Pride Parade. Unfortunately there has been something of a hiccup with this year’s organisation of said event bringing about a year’s cancellation. All is not well, it would seem.
The root of the problem appears to derive from a lack of funding and support from within the community and beyond it. Unlike the more established San Francisco, London, and Amsterdam Pride Parades, Hong Kong’s parade organisers are very much on their own. Nigel Collett, Secretary of the LGBT umbrella group Tongzhi Community Joint Meeting (TCJM) explains that in the past “the parade has been constructed on a wing and a prayer by some very dedicated people. They’re all people that do it in their spare time. [The government] don’t encourage it. They don’t pay money for it, but they don’t get involved with it.”
As an alternative, although not a replacement, an Out in the Open event was being organised by TCJM. Said Collett: “There will be displays, speeches, music, food and drink. If the Pride Parade gets back on its legs, which it should do next year, then we can have it as a gathering to keep on the party spirit, raise some cash from the booze at the party, and give it to the parade.” It was set to take place at a beach club and was supposed to be open to all: gay or straight. Brian Leung, host of the first gay Asian radio show RTHK’s ‘We are Family’, stated that “we don’t have big gay beach parties; I think this is the very first. They want to turn it into not just a party but some kind of festival. I actually volunteered to be the DJ for the event. If it’s going to be a party then that would be fun.”
But as much as both Leung and Collett had hoped that the Out in the Open event would become an annual fundraiser and a precursor to an entire festival dedicated to the LGBT community, it is, in fact, not going ahead at all. Collett optimistically stated: “We’re hoping to produce a festival every year like Shanghai and Singapore and Beijing are in the process of doing, which would last maybe three weeks. We would build it around the Pride Parade, the Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, and Floatilla, and also Mr. Gay Hong Kong. So there’s four big events that we could build a festival around and then fill in with plays, dance, cultural stuff, maybe some political stuff.” But for various reasons the only event close to a Pride Parade this year is a private party that can’t even be mentioned in this publication. Another source who chose to remain anonymous has described the situation as “messy.”
Although next year could be promising, this year’s cancellation has clearly left deep wounds. Leung concludes: “To me, with the gay parade, the most important thing is not the parade but the visibility; people going out and the media covering it. I think you have to keep it going no matter how many, just keep it as a tradition. Homophobic people will continue to say bad things about you even if the turn out rate was great, so why worry?”
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