Word: gays
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...Babyface, Coco Banana, Cargo and Angel, each competing with its neighbors to be bigger, brighter and louder. But on the other side of the road, the offices and shops are shuttered by late evening. Only one discreet neon sign is visible above a small stairway: Destination - Beijing's premier gay club...
...Xiao Wang, as he is introduced to me, is propped up against a wall in one of the bars. The 29-year-old architect, who sports a stud earring and a fresh razor cut, looks puzzled when I ask him about the drawbacks of being gay in Beijing, and whether he gets hassled by the authorities. "Hassled for what? Being gay?" He laughs. "Why would they want to do that...
...tackle more modern themes. The tribe, which originally numbered 100, had to wait nine years before it met its first female, the Smurfette - although more girls have been promised in future albums. And in the wake of the revelation by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling that Dumbledore was gay, Nine Culliford has hinted at a similar outing amongst the Smurfs. "Well, I did tell my husband that Vanity Smurf was like that, and he said, 'I never thought about it, but you're right,'" Culliford said. "Who knows? Maybe in a few years we'll be able to say something...
Once upon a time, the Communist government strictly enforced draconian laws against homosexuality, imprisoning and even executing those convicted. As China's economy opened to the world, so did the authorities' stance soften, with gay communities springing up in the larger coastal cities that benefited most from the boom such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. It's a process that had been accelerating along with the economy so that recent years have seen the sort of advances that allow young gay men like Xiao Wang the confidence to be blissfully ignorant of past problems the community has faced...
Still, Beijing is no San Francisco. Openly gay filmmaker Cui Zien says it's still easy to cross an invisible line drawn by the authorities when it comes to publicly celebrating gay culture. "I organized a gay film festival in July of last year, and the authorities warned us not to advertise the location and the date of the festival anywhere. Not even on the Internet." Despite the restrictions, though, the festival was allowed to go ahead (unlike some previous years) and was actually well attended. Since the outbreak of the SARS epidemic in 2004, the government has completely reversed...