Shocked. Then pleased to my toes. I received this email today from my friends at China Radio International, Beijing.

Dear Mr West,

We are doing a live show — a panel discussion on the status of Chinese gays and lesbians. We know that you have a much better understanding of the situation here, given your book of Beijing Blur. We want to invite you to join our show to share your insights and input with our listeners of the real situation of the community.

I read, blinked, re-read. If memory serves (I think it does), I dished up shit against CRI in Beijing Blur. I described a tyrannical boss, ‘Captain Rorschach’, a daunting psychological test. She was tiny, powered entirely by ideological hatred of James West. I slammed the level of censorship, too. Things were censored at every level: ‘Please don’t make any comments on government policies concerning politics and religion on our program,’ came one email after I mentioned Brokeback Mountain onair. Someone tried to bribe me once, too. Don’t get me started.

I quit before CRI harvested the last fragments of my soul.

Did this CRI radio producer go bonkers? Why would he invite me? Even the gay stuff in the book mentions ‘rights’ and ‘democracy’ too often for any sane propagandist.

But this is exciting right? Could the bastion of conservative broadcasting in China be ready for a real discussion?

To make sure, I wrote back:

I think being gay has a lot to do with politics — and acceptance of more freedoms in China generally. As I write in the book — ‘gay rights’ is a democratic movement, essentially. I would be very happy to help.

I’ll let you know what happens.

The renewed interest is because of the successful Shanghai Pride, dubbed the mainland’s first LGBT festival, which finished last weekend. Facebook and Twitter were alight with news. The event was a series of private parties, under constant scrutiny. The China Daily hailed it a success before it begun. (There’s a sensible wrap at NYT).

Another CRI friend wrote to me: “Couldn’t imagine it ten years ago, or even five years, or three years ago. China is really open now I should say”.

Sort of. I hope so. But not really.

In a differnet city, when I was in Beijing a four years ago, another ‘first mainland gay festival’ was shut down. Police turned off the power and removed decorations, then closed the venue to review its licence. The bar was not “fire-safe”; they didn’t have the proper fire extinguishers. People were distraught. So I’m happy this Shanghai version stayed largely fire-resistant (despite a play and a film being banned).

There’s still a long way to go before these kids start coming out to their parents or achieve wide-spread acceptance in a country where traditional duty is made razor sharp by the one-child policy.

There’s an optimistic thawing, and some hard work by activists. But I fear that still so many feel trapped between public and private life, as one boy summarised: ‘Don’t ask. Don’t talk. Don’t question. Only then can you do what you like.’

1 Comments

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June 16, 2009 2:16 pm

David

Captain Rorschach wants you back. You know she does. She needs you for The Final Showdown.