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Wan LixinOpinion deputy editor of Shanghai Daily
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Gay bar forced to close
By Wang Xiang |
December 2, 2009, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
DISCRIMINATION against homosexuals and AIDS patients has aborted China's first government-funded gay bar in Dali, in the southwestern Yunnan Province.
The bar, with financial backing from the Dali City Health Bureau, caused much resentment from residents.
Volunteers and organizers of the bar had been put in an awkward position by being labeled as gays or AIDS sufferers, Zhang Jianbo, the main advocate of the bar, as quoted by yesterday's Shanghai Morning Post. Zhang is a doctor at a Dali hospital.
More than a dozen AIDS prevention volunteers operating the bar were all let go and the bar was shut down yesterday.
An unnamed volunteer said he and his coworkers were labeled by their friends and families as gay after China Central Television covered their work on Sunday.
The program exposed several male homosexuals who were married to women, said the volunteer. Now their families were "fighting every day and some of them have filed divorce cases."
The volunteer said he would not serve as an AIDS-prevention volunteer again.
The idea of opening a gay bar in Dali was raised earlier this year as a platform to educate more homosexuals about AIDS transmission.
The gay bar was opened for a trial operation before the media exposure.
Government investment in a gay bar was "a good try" as it would make it easier for volunteers to advocate safe sex, said Zeng Yi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Zeng is also a noted AIDS prevention expert.
The bar, with financial backing from the Dali City Health Bureau, caused much resentment from residents.
Volunteers and organizers of the bar had been put in an awkward position by being labeled as gays or AIDS sufferers, Zhang Jianbo, the main advocate of the bar, as quoted by yesterday's Shanghai Morning Post. Zhang is a doctor at a Dali hospital.
More than a dozen AIDS prevention volunteers operating the bar were all let go and the bar was shut down yesterday.
An unnamed volunteer said he and his coworkers were labeled by their friends and families as gay after China Central Television covered their work on Sunday.
The program exposed several male homosexuals who were married to women, said the volunteer. Now their families were "fighting every day and some of them have filed divorce cases."
The volunteer said he would not serve as an AIDS-prevention volunteer again.
The idea of opening a gay bar in Dali was raised earlier this year as a platform to educate more homosexuals about AIDS transmission.
The gay bar was opened for a trial operation before the media exposure.
Government investment in a gay bar was "a good try" as it would make it easier for volunteers to advocate safe sex, said Zeng Yi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Zeng is also a noted AIDS prevention expert.
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