Are Shanghai expats homophobic?
I recently read on Fridae.com that Hong Kong actor Leung Yu Chung said that if he was approached by a flirtatious gay man, he would respond with violence. Then another blog entry closer to home caught my attention, but this time it was from an expat. The entry started with, "Can I say something gay? I mean, really really gay." It went on to describe a benefit concert that the writer attended. The well-meaning author found the experience "very touching," hence the "really really gay" part.

In this blog entry on a local website, the author's main point was that he had an incredibly moving experience at an earthquake benefit concert featuring a performance from the Black Eyed Peas. And that is a beautiful thing. However, like the Chinese saying, "drawing legs on a snake," he would've been better off, in my opinion, leaving out the whole homophobic bit.

While it's easy to get angry and catty over these kinds of comments, this came at an inopportune time. That the entry was published shortly after one of my gay Chinese friends was attacked for being gay by an expat. In short, my friend was looking for an apartment and found an expat looking for a roommate. After they contacted each other, something got lost in translation and the expat mistakenly thought my friend was a woman. Needless to say, the expat was disappointed and rudely dismissed my friend. He wanted an apology for the expat's rudeness about the mix-up, but the expat wanted my friend to hit the road. The next thing he knew, he was being punched in the face while gay and anti-hinese slurs were hurled at him.

In other countries, it's unfortunately not unusual for members of our community to be attacked outside of a gay bar and club. However, in Shanghai, that's almost unimaginable. And I've yet to hear of such an experience outside any of Shanghai's gay hotspots.

I've always assumed that the "let bygones be bygones" attitude of many Chinese people (except Leung Yu Chung) is what has created a friendly environment for our gay community in Shanghai. That's probably why gays in Shanghai feel secure being who they are. While some Chinese people might be homophobic, one actor speaking out is already too much homophobia for my taste. If there's one Western-imported idea that Shanghai doesn't need, it's homophobia.

Pete