CHINA: Pride Parade Organiser Detained

The organiser of one of China's first gay pride parades was detained for 12 days after the event.

By Newsdesk | 7th June 2013

Changsha Pride 2013 | YouTube

A video has been released by the Queer Comrades website, China’s LGBT TV Channel about last month’s pride march in Changsha, in which hundreds of LGBT supporter and allies attended from Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangdong, Chongqing, Hubei and Zhejiang.

The parade coincided with this year’s International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO).

Shanghai does have a yearly pride event, however there is no parade or march, as all demonstrations are heavily supressed in China.

A statement on the Queer Comrades website said:

"That night, event organizer Xiang Xiaohan and 3 others were taken away by the local Changsha police. The next day, 3 of them were released, but Xiang Xiaohan was administratively detained for 12 days.

While we need to think on how to do better next time, we also have to celebrate the courage of Xiaohan and his team and congratulate them on a very successful event."

The translation on he video reads, 'After Xiaohan was detained 'some people called the event a failure and urged us to draw lessons from it,'

'We think that's a mistake to call the event a failure. While we need to think how to do better next time. We also have to celebrate the courage of Xiaohan and his team and congratulate them on a very successful event.'

Xiang said 'next time they might detain me for 15 days. If that's what it takes to hold another event, then that's fine by me'.

Adult, consensual and non-commercial homosexuality has been legal in the mainland of People's Republic of China since 1997 and homosexuality was removed from the Minstry of Health's list of mental illnesses in 2001.

Currently no civil rights laws exist to address discrimination against China's LGBT community.

To watch the video head on over to www.videos.thegayuk.com/ChinaPride