6th ShanghaiPRIDE – The Best Yet

ShanghaiPRIDE has successfully wrapped up its sixth annual celebration of the international LGBT Pride Month. Abundant in networking, cultural and entertaining events, this was an amazing week that gathered an impressive 5000+ of supporters celebrating diversity and tolerance and sending out the powerful message of being – Better Together.

Warming up pre-Pride event at 390Shanghai was a night of sharing the real life stories about awkwardness. June 12th and 13th marked the openings of the Photo and Art Exhibition “Love & Health”. Numerous visitors to Shanghai Studio and Polar Bear Gallery could enjoy stylistically diverse artistic explorations of the interplay between these two concepts as well as raise their awareness about the specific meanings attached to love and health in relation to LGBT community.

Saturday June 14th was an eventful day for all the jolly Pride-goers. Traditional morning coming out for the 6 km long Pride Run, which started from The Langham, Xintiandi to The Bund and back, and was rewarded with the delicious Pink BBQ at The Langham. American Apparel and Helan Online joined forces for the event as well. The day culminated with the mega Opening Party on Saturday evening featuring amazing performance by Peter Le, a prestigious GV star, and dancers at M2. Despite the difficulties with the venue, for which the organizers deeply apologized, the atmosphere was great and it was the night to remember for more than 2000 supporters.

Sunday June 15th saw a productive Panel Discussion on transgender health, rights and community building hosted by the US Consulate-General. The LGBT Groups Open Day on June 21st, co-organized by Shanghai Community Center, dedicated to networking and facilitating future local LGBT-related projects. It was complemented with HIV/AIDS Panel Discussion “Love & Beyond” and PFLAG Conference “Embrace Your Children” in Andaz Hotel, supported by Helan Online, which gave support to a dialogue between LGBT community members and their non-LGBT family members and sharing feelings and experiences on coming-out stories. All the events had great turnout, being informative, emotional, powerful and promising. More than 600 participants joined the events supported by the British Consulate-General since 10 AM.

The Pride6 Film Festival opened on June 15th at The British Centre with the screening of Top 3 Chinese films voted online, among which were “Brother” (release year 2013) and “VaChina Monologues” (2013). What followed was a real feast for a huge amount of film-lovers which attended the screenings sponsored by and held at the German, British, Canadian, Luxembourg and Danish Consulate-Generals throughout the week. Created in China, Germany, Denmark, UK, USA and Canada, this great collection of movies showcased context – specific and yet universal struggle for authentic life and love beyond rigid confines of heterosexuality.

The Identity Theater Series gathered an amazing crowd, both on stage and in the audience. Following Mike Bartlett’s “Cock” performed by East and West Theatre on June 6th and 7th, Pride6 presented two original
plays – “Izzie and Irving” written by Sanyi on June 15th and “Rendezvous”, a tragicomedy written by Jason and Svetlana Lasky, on June 15th and 20th. Dedicated to transgender community but touching our collective human experience, the play was followed by interactive sessions between the director, actors, audience and the Pride’s exquisite guests – Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. The plays, which were supported by the Dutch Consulate-General, were well celebrated by more than 450 audiences.

Sister Roma of the Sisters hosted LGBT Trivia Night on June 18th at 390Shanghai, with loads of exciting prizes given out to knowledgeable and lucky participants. Ladies Pride at Cirque Le Soir on June 19th provided exquisite treatment to all wonderful ladies who came out in all rainbow colors. The night was filled with positive vibes, hot Camino Flamenco performers, great entertainment and unforgettable encounters. Closing Party on Saturday 21st, although unexpectedly changed venue to Pasul, changed main DJ and rain, it was a huge success. Media partners and organizers worked tireless around the clock to divert the crowd to the new venue. Estimated 800 participants had amazing time celebrating the successful wrapping up of Pride6, entertained by Pride Beats, DJ Kuma Ray, versatile Jazz singer Denise, dancers Vboiz, Benson and KK from Taiwan, Drag Queen Foxxy Femm and NoFactCreative Group. A midnight flashmob made the night a sweet one to remember.

Artwork sales from the Art Exhibition were donated to Beijing Zuoyou, an organization focusing on HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention and care for the infected; proceeds from Pride Run went to Chengdu Tongle, an LGBT organization in Sichuan province and sales of raffle tickets help to support LesTalk, a local Lesbian media and events organization.

Congratulations to all for being part of ShanghaiPRIDE and to organizers and volunteers who made this great event come true, and another step for promoting tolerance and acceptance among the society.
For a full list of activities see shpride.com/pride6events.
For interviews, email shanghaipride@gmail.com. Shanghai time is GMT +8 hours.