Better Together – Shanghai Celebrates its 6th Pride in June

Shanghai, 8th April, 2014 – ShanghaiPRIDE will proudly celebrate its sixth anniversary this year. Building on its traditional agenda of promoting tolerance and celebrating diversity, this year’s festivities will be organized under the slogan “Better Together”. The overarching theme of togetherness which will inspire and help shape various events reflects the aspirations of the Shanghai-based LGBT community to strengthen its position in terms of equal rights, acceptance, self-affirmation, and community-building within both the local and the global contexts, outreaching to other Prides around the world and joining the international LGBT Pride Month celebrations.
A colorful myriad of networking, social and entertaining, as well as cultural and educational events will be held before and culminate during the Pride Week from 13th to 22nd June 2014.

Awareness and concerns about the universal as well as context specific issues surrounding LGBT community such as marriage equality, sexual health, and workplace diversity and acceptance have already been raised in the debates ShanghaiPRIDE held throughout the previous years. With the aim to reach out to wider public and policy makers, these talks will further develop in three Panel Discussions planned on 15th and 21st June this year, with special focus given to themes of religious and family acceptance and expected participation of transgender-related organizations. NGO Workshops are planned for 22nd June with 25 organizations joining in, brainstorming around the theme of coming out and specific cultural and social challenges and opportunities for changing the stigma into visibility, positive stance, and pride about LGBT identity.

ShanghaiPRIDE 2014 Film Festival will be held from 15th until 20th June. Seeking to “establish a public platform for discourses on local LGBT social issues, promote the evolvement of local LGBT culture, and raise public awareness and support for local LGBT communities”, the festival will encompass a series of events such as interactive discussions, film screenings, and Chinese LGBT-themed short film competition. The call for submission will be open throughout April, the films will be out one month for online voting and the awards will be given out at the Closing Party. Five short listed films will be shown on the Film Festival Opening night.

This year’s theater series will revolve around the theme of identity. Following East West Theatre’s pre-Pride production “Cock”, theater plays “Rendezvous” and “Gay Husband, Straight Wife”, a Chinese play by This Love Drama Club, will be on stage on the 15th, 20th and 22nd June. As Evie Wu says, “Pride6 has attracted involvement of many LGBT-related theaters. ShanghaiPRIDE is always a multi-national event, that’s why we would like to present both local and international plays for our audience. This year we will have an IDENTITY series, with performances exploring the topic of transgender, gay, and straight identities. All these theater plays together will present and make Pride6 more diverse and inclusive. Better together – Let’s celebrate togetherness”.

The Art Exhibition opening is scheduled for Friday 13th June. There will be three sets of art displayed at M50: Beijing Zuoyou with LA LGBT center and PAW, Patric Purnell, and Jason and Lulu animation. Dr.Sketchyn sketches will be displayed at Shanghai Studio.

As part of the traditional outdoor get-together and sports element of the festival, the Pride Run leading to the Pink Picnic is scheduled for Saturday 14th June. Along with other local running groups, organizers will invite the consulates, corporations, and NGOs. Some of the confirmed sponsors are American Apparel, Epermarket and RNW and part of donations will go to an HIV-related charity.

Story about a journey from darkness to brightness and colors will be the main theme of the Opening and Closing Parties to be held on 14th and 21st June respectively. The ladies-only Girlz Night Out Party is scheduled for Thursday 19th June, with a Flamenco Troupe and Drag King to perform, along with Six Shanghai Rollers in six different outfits serving shots of six different colors.

Raymond Phang, one of the main organizers, says: “It has been really amazing to see how ShanghaiPRIDE has grown, and it is always emotional to be part of it. Every year, a group of passionate volunteers comes together for one only reason – to create awareness and promote tolerance for the LGBT community in Shanghai and China. It is also exciting to involve more of the local community year after year to make ShanghaiPRIDE one of the most unique Prides in the world. We are blessed with great partners and friends who have continuously supported us for the past five years and inspired a very promising future for all of us”.

As this annual event is non-for-profit in its character, carried out by volunteers and members of ShanghaiLGBT and other NGOs, the organizers have already started arranging fund-raising events, finding sponsors and soliciting donations. Some of the prominent 2014 ShanghaiPRIDE benefit parties are Coming Out Masquerade Black Ball scheduled for 12th April at 390 Bar and BBQ Block Party which will take place at Brownstone on 25th May. East West Theatre production “Cock” is expected be on stage on 6th and 7th June. Proceeds from these events will go to organizing of the week-long festival.

Contact: Smiljana Tanasijevic
Email: shanghaipride@gmail.com
Website: shpride.com