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Rainbow flag hoisted at UK pavilion

Updated: 2010-07-15 11:10

The UK pavilion hosted a party for Shanghai's gay community at its pavilion park on Wednesday as part of its weeklong focus on civic society.

Organizers of the event said they plan to support Shanghai's second annual Gay Pride Week, which was moved from June to late October, when the Expo ends. It will feature an expanded version of the Gay Olympics that debuted last June, as well as a pink picnic and a pool party.

A carnival-like public parade, typical of the Gay Pride format, is unlikely as it was banned last year for public security reasons.

"You'd expect the UK to support this kind of event. London Pride is one of the biggest gay pride events in the world," said UK pavilion spokeswoman Katherine Dixon.

"We want to have more of a Chinese Pride this year, not just one that's all about foreigners having a party," said Linda Li, a member of Shanghai LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community, which organizes the festival and is mostly run by ex-pats.

"We're hoping to align ourselves more with the Asian gay community as a whole," she said.

Shanghai held its inaugural Gay Pride Week last year, the first event of its kind staged on the Chinese mainland. There was no mass parade, but 3,000 people attended the weeklong activities, which included art exhibits, movie screenings and indoor parties.

Hong Kong held a similar festival in 2008. Beijing got involved last month with its Jing Pride. This saw drag queens and straight guys dressed as women raising money for AIDS charities and raising the profile of the conservative capital's LGBT community.

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（中國日報網英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Rainbow flag hoisted at UK pavilion

Nelly Min is an editor at China Daily with more than 10 years of experience as a newspaper editor and photographer. She has worked at major newspapers in the U.S., including the Los Angeles Times and the Detroit Free Press. She is fluent in Korean and has a 2-year-old son.

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