The Chinese gay scene was really born 10 years ago when homosexuality was delisted as a mental disorder in 2001. It seems that we jumped out of the cradle and began walking forward because after a pumping weekend on the fruit loop, it’s hard to fathom that just a short 10 years ago, Big Red started going pink around the rim. I shook my contact list for decade-long dwellers of Shanghai and asked them about whom and what has moved Shanghai.

The Girls

Lesbians in Shanghai are apparently nomads. The boy bars have evolved while the girl bar scene has never materialized ... “A new bar will open every six months or year and last about half that long.” says one lesbian I know.

But it’s not like there’s nothing. The group Lesinshanghai still meets monthly at Cotton’s, and lesbians always have been extremely active in pride development. Hannah Miller helped spearhead Shanghai’s first Pride festival in ’09, and Charlene Liu today is one of the most active Shanghai LGBT members, keeping Pride going. The community’s still too small, it seems, to maintain an establishment for any meaningful length of time. Hopefully an influx of new lalas from the provinces and overseas will change that in the decade to come.

The Boys

As for the boys, the players remain the same but the venues are different. A Dongbei Chinese transplant who moved here in 2000 says, “Back in the day it was just Eddy (of Eddy’s), and he had to move a couple times before he wound up where he is now.” Now he’s set, having been serving Shanghai for more than 15 years. Ricky Lu has been around a while, too, first with Home Bar, then Pink Home and now Angel / Dubai. “Home Bar changed the game in Shanghai,” he says. “It was the first time we had a club.” My Dongbei friend adds, “Home opened the door for Deep, LC and all the other clubs that followed.”

The newest player on the scene is Jack at Shanghai Studio, and he’s been going strong for six years. The Studio was born about the same time I moved here. I can still remember when it was only one bar and about three staff, so to visit it on a heaving Friday night with more bars and boys than I can count is a welcome sign of growth.

The options for Shangays have grown over years but we still have a ways to go. Fewer people are wearing their pajamas on the street, and I’m happy to be writing to you now from the Community section of City Weekend, where I cover a broader range of topics to better serve our community. Please let me know if there’s any issue you would like to see addressed!

What issues, legal or otherwise, do you face as a member of Shanghai’s LGBT community? Tell us in the comments below.