Hey, ShanghaiPRIDE will turn 10 soon!

Every June is LGBTQ pride month. All around the world, rainbow flags can be seen alongside the parades, parties, and celebrations that are held in support of the LGBTQ community. But instead of being envious of these sights from the “outside world”, China, in fact, also has its own volunteer-run pride festival celebrating its 10-year anniversary – ShanghaiPRIDE.

Regardless of whether you’ve personally participated in the event or has never heard of it before, ShanghaiPRIDE have already grown from its original 8 organizers and 3000 participants to the 30 organizers and 6500 participants today.

Throughout the month of June, the diverse events of the festival have greatly impacted the LGBTQ community of this land. ShanghaiPRIDE throughout the last decade seems like a giant jigsaw puzzle, with the pieces being its volunteers,  partners and sponsors, and the countless participants who attended our events.

On this special 10th anniversary, we have interviewed a variety of intriguing people who have contributed to our cause. The overarching theme of every interview:  everyone speaks of this journey of a decade with a calm yet proud face, as though it is only natural to do so.

A Decade · Volunteers

Justine was lucky to encounter the first ShanghaiPRIDE festival during a time which she had just begun to accept herself. Amazingly, at only 15 years old and a high school student, she joined our big family and became a volunteer. Speaking of the unforgettable experience of that year, she says: “The first ShanghaiPRIDE was the first gay pride festival that I’ve ever participated in. It’s also the first time that I met so many members of the LGBT community. Being able to participate and connect with people like me gave me a strong sense of belonging, and a happiness sprouted from the seed that I no longer needed to hide who I really am.”

During that time, Shanghai’s LGBTQ community was still in its infancy, and the community culture was far from developed. Justine worked with the founding team of ShanghaiPRIDE to create a sense of unity and belonging for all of our LGBTQ friends. As a natural optimist, Justine believes that even though our community is still limited by restrictions in the current environment, these adversities and obstacles happen to show how important our work truly is. We strive to give evidence every year that the future will keep improving!

Like many fellow volunteers, Rae joined ShanghaiPRIDE with the intention of making more friends and striving to make meaningful contributions to the LGBTQ community. Recalling the times that she spent volunteering with ShanghaiPRIDE in 2015, she says: “After joining the volunteer team, I discovered that everyone was so skilled and talented. Experiencing the multitude of people all contributing their utmost to the LGBT community, I believe that the environment for LGBT people in China will continue to get better. I’m very hopeful about the future. “

Coincidentally, Rae met a girl in 2015, who introduced her to join the volunteer team, and now the girl is her girlfriend.

ShanghaiPRIDE festival is not only a celebration for LGBTQ people, it also spreads many core ideals through social interactions, culture, sports, and education. By allowing our community’s members to exchange thoughts through cultural, artistic, and other perspectives, it offers opportunities to strengthen our connection. ShanghaiPRIDE also provides a chance for people outside of the LGBTQ community to better understand the truth of the diverse lives of LGBTQ people.

Wei Wei is a volunteer who participated as an assistant translator for ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival. Speaking of her work experiences, she recalls: “The level of expertise, sophistication and cinematography displayed by the films shocked me at the time. Many participants were well-seasoned professionals in the film industry who came to our ShanghaiPRIDE Film Festival. The results were astonishing.”

Wei Wei feels ShanghaiPRIDE will last more than just a decade. In her eyes, it will continue to last for twenty, even thirty years into the future, up until and even beyond the day that we no longer need a pride festival to be proud of who we are.

ShanghaiPRIDE also has its own team dedicated to searching for partners and sponsors. Mr. Huang is one of them. Even as an easygoing man, he has faced many difficulties in the path of searching for sponsors, but what is it that makes it all worthwhile? The answer he gave to this quandary is that greater than these obstacles are the touching experiences that he had whilst volunteering for the ShanghaiPRIDE family.

He shared with us one of the most memorable moments in his work. Once, when searching for sponsors, he asked a straight executive from Brander Urstoff: “Why support a cause that is still such a sensitive topic to many brands out there?”

The executive replied: “Because the path to move forward needs to be taken.”

A Decade · The Founders

Chris is one of the co-founders of ShanghaiPRIDE. Speaking of the emergence of  this event, she referred to it as “having good timing”: “I felt that there should be a Chinese LGBT celebration event. During my stay in Shanghai, I had been working on the organization and preparation of what was known as the previous form of ShanghaiPRIDE. Whether it was merely good timing or everything simply fell into place, it just happened. Although there weren’t as many events as there are currently and the programme length wasn’t as long, I was still so excited and surprised that it appealed to such a large crowd.”

“It just felt like I wasn’t battling alone.” said another co-founder, Dylan. He says, “Seeing so many people of various skin colors, nationalities, genders, sexual orientations and age groups sticking together for a shared belief, I knew that we could definitely expect the arrival of such a day, because I was convinced that we could make a difference.”

When Hannah talked about her memorable experience of launching ShanghaiPRIDE, she said, “Aside from getting shut down and making international press, the most memorable moment was getting our story on the front page of the China Daily with the quote that we were “sending a strong signal to the 1.3 billion Chinese about greater acceptance and tolerance. That was a big win for the first year.”

At the very first festival, nobody knew we would make it the the 10th, just as now nobody knows what the future will be. Let’s just gather together in June 2018 and hold space for our collective hope over the next decade. Don’t you want to join this grand aspiration?

THANK YOU

Here we want to express our appreciation and gratitude for all the volunteers who have been dedicating themselves to the organization and preparation for ShanghaiPRIDE. Also, we’d like to thank the following volunteers who have taken our interview.

Adrienne Rowell, Ariel, Bamboo, Ben Yu, Benjamin, Beth Hua, Bob Song, Brett Chen, Carina, Chris Wu, Clement, Daniel Hu, Darick, Dylan Chen, Elsa, Ethan Li, Evelyn, Evie Wu, Gaspar, Guillermo Garcia, Hanna Wu, Hannah Miller, Haruko, Ivanna Suckalongkok, Jay Shan, Jeffery Pang, Jerry, Jonathan, Justine, Kristen Wei, Leesan, Lesley, Li Gang, Li, Sang, Linda Li, Luc Lu, Madeleine, Manman, Massimo Mazzilli, Michelle Morkel, Patrick, Gittard, Peter Sui, Rae, Raymond Phang, Roman Chen, Sam Cruz, Sammy Wu, Samuel, Septira, Shane, Stephanie, Summer Wu, Bunny Yan, Venus Wu, Wendy Lo, Wing Shen, Xiao Fu, Zoey, 老柏, 黄老湿 Wei……

In the past 10 years, whether you have participated in our ShanghaiPRIDE events or not, everyone is welcome to leave your messages sharing the most touching moments, or send “Our Story” to shanghaipride@gmail.com. We will pick some of them to publish.