Hong Kong Gay Pride 2011: Over 2,000 Revelers March For LGBT Rights (PHOTOS)

The fight for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) anti-discrimination laws continues to expand globally, as evidenced by the over 2,000 people who marched in Hong Kong's gay pride parade Saturday.

As the AFP is reporting, the event's dress code was designated as "sexy and act out," with some marchers carrying penis-shaped plush toys and rainbow-colored pride flags and banners proclaiming "Queer is my power," while Lady Gaga's hit song "Born This Way" blared in the background. The overall theme of the parade was "For queer, for love, for equality."

“We are here today because we want the society to know who we are and we hope they don’t discriminate against the LGBT community,” Mic Au, a 21-year-old student, told the AFP. “I hope the government will enact laws that ban discrimination against homosexuals, at workplace or at schools."

Though Hong Kong is, by most standards, conservative in terms of its approach to LGBT rights (particularly, as AsiaOne noted in July, toward lesbians), a large number of activists from Taiwan and China also participated in the event.

Check out photos from Hong Kong's gay pride parade below:

Comments

[Paul Rhea]

02:54 PM on 11/14/2011

Hong Kong is an amazing city and I'm happy to see LGBT people standing up for fairness and equality. Way to go Hong Kong! Keep up the good work!

[quanto 33]

05:04 PM on 11/13/2011

There are over 7 million people in that city. They got 2,000 people to march. That is beyond pathetic. I would have thought there were way more than 2,000 weirdos there.

[jalapeno]

03:40 PM on 11/25/2011

judge much?

[madcityy]

02:39 PM on 11/13/2011

20000 IS LIKE ZEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[naturevideo]

10:57 AM on 11/13/2011

First of all, I wish gay people everywhere, long, happy fulfilled lives, so this post is not anti-gay.

My comment is about how utterly un-newsworthy some items are. In this case, the headline and the article make a point of how there are "over 2,000 people"!!! as if that is somehow indicative of widespread support. Hong Kong is a city of over 7 MILLION people, so 2,000 people means that, in support of this, significantly less than 1/1000th of the population of the city came out to support this. So why is that a newsworthy story?

[firiath]

04:01 AM on 11/14/2011

The movement is growing - the parade grows in numbers every year. You can't automatically start a movement and expect it to have millions of people there, especially on an issue that is extremely controversial here in Hong Kong. It's newsworthy because it shows that we *are* making some waves, and we *are* telling people that we are not afraid. Just because it's small doesn't mean it's not significant - every single movement has to start somewhere.

[firiath]

04:04 AM on 11/14/2011

Everything has to start somewhere. Just because it's small doesn't mean it's not significant. The movement is growing - every year the parade grows in numbers - and it will continue to grow. You can't expect people to suddenly flock to the parade, especially in a place like Hong Kong where gender and sexuality minorities are very rarely, if ever, talked about.

[Lou Kavar]

07:58 AM on 11/13/2011

I'm excited for Hong Kong. It's an amazing city. To see it's growing openness to lesbian and gay issues is wonderful growth.

[Amalek]

02:40 AM on 11/13/2011

I have lived in China for the past 15 years.  It has been interesting to watch the transformation of Chinese society on gay issues.  When I first arrived I would regularly see badly beaten gay friends who did something in public that offended someone.  Today it is quite open.   One of my friends owns a gay bar and it is incredibly successful.  The police treat it much like any bar - no drugs, no fights, no problems.

[mlkx]

08:13 AM on 11/13/2011

I've been living here for most of the last 30 years and I agree with you that there have been many positive developments. But the set backs are there as well. The recent ban on Jin Xing serving as a judge on that TV talent show was a big one. But it was good to see that many people were also angry about the decision. Many people knew it was unfair and simply due to her being transsexual.

[mlkx]

08:55 PM on 11/12/2011

Glad to see this.

Just another reason to LOVE Hong Kong!

[lambdin1]

03:21 PM on 11/12/2011

Good for them!! They have come a long way just as we have. We all have a long way to go. We need to support one another to move forward. Governments can no longer hide us like they use to do. Just by showing up to these events shows many others that we are here and not going to change. Deal with it!