Color Pride in Color Run

On the morning of September 27th at about 9:40am, a group of us from the ShanghaiPRIDE volunteer team gathered at the Oriental Sports Center subway exit to start our preparations for the Color Run. The Color Run was a great opportunity for us to participate in a healthy lifestyle and most importantly contribute to the Color with our community rainbow. We helped each other attach our numbers, carefully affixed some rainbow tattoos on our arms and faces, dawned a rainbow wig and draped rainbow flags on our backs, and finally a team full of high rainbow spirits was born!

After getting ready, we headed towards the starting line. With colorful billboards lining the road, we unfurled the rainbow flag which drew a crowd of strangers who took tons of photos with us. A helicopter hovered above us with photographers snapping away.

Just before the run began, impatient runners started throwing colourful powder into the air. At first, everyone was relatively gentle, trying to escape the color dusting. But later…everyone was reborn as Smurfs, Afanda, Minions, and even rolling themselves on the colorful ground. We joined in the celebration waving our rainbow flag and began our morning run with excitement and vigour. Along the way, many people continued to take photos of us, and even a few foreign friends gave us the thumbs up.

At the finish line, we placed the rainbow flag on the ground, and spelled out “color pride” beneath it, attracting many more people to gather and take pictures. Everyone loved our rainbow flag and sat around it. By then all of our t-shirts were no longer white, but covered with color…

It is worth mentioning that there were two very cute young men who attracted a lot of attention. Many girls who noticed them were trying to guess if they are a couple. Once they saw them running hand-in-hand, they excitedly took out their mobile phones to take photos. (writer’s aside: cheeky girls everywhere, yeah!)

Towards the end, everyone was beyond recognition. (writer’s aside: it looks more like a scene from the Walking Dead). It was indeed the happiest five kilometer run on earth; everyone enjoyed the great day!

We hope our Rainbow Team” helped create awareness for the LGBT community and also hope that our friends are proud to stand with us. -Better Together-