As the Olympics got underway in Beijing with opening ceremonies Aug. 8,
rumors of a crackdown on gay bars failed to materialize. (Photo by Sipa
via AP Images)
Gay bars open, activism slowed during Olympics Chinese activists find inspiration, new enemies from the West
The
first
paragraph
of
the
Aug.
9
entry
on
John
Amaechi’s
blog
could
have
been
written
by
any
Olympic
tourist
guilty
of
staying
up
too
late
to
take
in
the
local
culture.
“I
had
to
wake
up
at
6
a.m.
this
morning,
which
was
not
fun
considering
I
had
been
up
until
3
a.m.,
watching
the
opening
ceremony
and
hanging
out
at
‘Destination’
again,”
he
wrote.
“I
have
to
say
that
it
got
busy
very
late
—
I
am
officially
too
old
for
bars
that
close
at
5
a.m.”
Only
Amaechi
isn’t
just
any
tourist,
and
Destination
isn’t
just
any
bar.
Last
year,
Amaechi
made
worldwide
headlines
when
he
became
the
first
NBA
player
to
come
out
as
gay,
three
years
after
retiring
from
professional
basketball.
And
Destination
is
the
most
popular,
contemporary
gay
bar
in
Beijing,
which
some
activists
had
fretted
would
face
closure
as
the
Chinese
government
tried
to
strictly
manage
the
city’s
image
during
the
Olympic
Games.
Now,
Amaechi,
who
once
feared
being
ostracized
in
the
sports
world,
is
in
Beijing
to
broadcast
Olympic
basketball
games
for
the
BBC.
And
the
party
at
Destination
continues,
drawing
a
mix
of
Chinese
citizens,
ex-pats,
and
tourists.
“It
is
a
sizeable
club,
very
pleasant
staff,
which
is
not
a
given
in
every
gay
bar,”
Amaechi,
who
is
blogging
throughout
the
Games
at
www.beijinglegacyblog.com,
told
Southern
Voice.
Destination’s
Edmund
Yang
confirmed
that
the
club,
which
recently
expanded
from
one
floor
to
two,
is
open
and
thriving
with
the
Olympics
underway.
“So
far
we
have
seen
more
foreign
visitors
coming
to
Destination,”
he
said.“We
had
a
large
crowd
on
the
dance
floor
on
Aug.
9,
Saturday.
The
highlight
of
the
night
was
most
of
them
singing
along
to
the
chorus
of
‘YMCA’
when
I
played
this
oldie
towards
the
end
of
my
set.”
But
while
gay
nightlife
has
continued
in
Beijing
during
the
Olympics,
Chinese
activists
acknowledge
that
the
Games
have
impacted
their
work.
“There
are
many
new
regulations
on
security,
such
as
internet
censorship,
travel,
migrant
workers
in
Beijing,”
said
Bin
Xu,
a
leader
of
Tongyu
(Common
Language),
an
organization
for
lesbian
and
bisexual
women
based
in
the
Chinese
capital.
“We
have
to
be
careful
with
our
work
to
avoid
intriguing
safety
concerns.”
The
heightened
security
and
general
restrictions
in
place
during
the
Games
make
activist
work
almost
impossible,
agreed
Damien
Lu,
a
volunteer
with
Aibai
Culture
&
Education
Center,which
operates
two
gay
centers,
a
gay
library,
and
the
country’s
most
popular
gay
website
(aibai.cn
or
gaychinese.net).
“Most
LGBT
groups,
particularly
those
in
Beijing
and
surrounding
areas,
have
completely
suspended
their
work
during
the
Olympic
period,
partly
because
of
logistic
reasons
(transportation
problems,
etc),
partly
because
the
Beijing
public
security
has
become
hysterical
and
closed
down
many
entertainment
venues,
gay
or
otherwise,”
said
Lu,
who
lives
in
Los
Angeles
but
travels
to
China
frequently
for
gay
rights
work
and
maintains
constant
contact
with
activists
there.
“Since
many
of
these
groups’work
consists
mainly
of
conducting
outreach
at
these
venues,
it
effectively
made
it
impossible
for
them
to
continue,”
he
said.
‘HOMOSEXUALITY
AND
AIDS’
Olympic
visitors
to
Beijing
will
also
see
another
familiar
symbol:
the
ubiquitous
red
ribbon
that
has
come
to
recognize
the
fight
against
HIV.
According
to
reports
in
state-run
Chinese
media,
the
Red
Cross
Society
of
China
plans
to
pass
out
thousands
of
copies
of
"Together
for
HIV
and
AIDS
Prevention:
A
Toolkit
for
the
Sports
Community”
during
the
Games,
while
also
stressing
HIV
awareness
at
Chinese
universities.
The
Olympic
effort
focuses
generally
on
preventing
HIV
transmission
and
discrimination,
but
as
in
the
United
States,
the
fight
for
increasing
visibility
for
gay
people
in
China
has
been
inextricably
linked
to
the
fight
against
HIV.
Today,
an
estimated
700,000
Chinese
are
HIV-positive.
Some
11.1
percent
contracted
the
virus
through
male-male
sexual
contact,
according
to
a
report
from
the
Chinese
Ministry
of
Health,
UNAIDS,
and
the
World
Health
Organization.
The
Chinese
government
did
not
issue
its
first
research
on
HIV
and
gay
men
until
2004.
But
since
then,
outreach
efforts,
ranging
from
targeted
prevention
campaigns
to
free
health
clinics
for
gay
men,
have
been
frequent
subjects
of
matter-of-fact
news
reports
from
staterun
media
like
the
Xinhua
News
Agency.
“In
recent
years,
the
government
has
made
a
lot
of
effort
to
involve
the
LGBT
community
in
the
fight
against
HIV/AIDS.
Toward
that
end,
the
health
branch
of
the
government
approves
of
LGBT
work
and
has
good
relationship
with
us
as
well,”
said
Lu,
the
Aibai
Culture
&
Education
Center
volunteer.
Although
the
government
works
openly
with
gay
groups
in
efforts
to
stem
a
growing
AIDS
epidemic,
criticism
of
its
efforts
from
within
...
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