Gay Chinese contestant goes global

• Source: Global Times
• [08:19 February 12 2010]
• Comments

By Lin Meilian

The abrupt cancellation of the first Mr Gay China contest has not discouraged one of the contestants, Xiadai Muyi, from pushing forward in his quest to be the proud face of gays in China.

The contestant, also known as Andrew, landed in Oslo, Norway on Tuesday for the Mr Gay World pageant, which includes 31 participants from five continents and the show will be held on Sunday, Valentine's Day.

AFP quoted Worldwide Mr Gay executive producer Tore Aasheim as saying that it was courageous on Andrew's part to travel overseas to take part.

The report said the Norwegian embassy assisted Andrew with getting a visa.

Representing gay people is not easy for the 25-year-old, considering he is a Hui minority from the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The organizer of Mr Gay China, Ben Zhang, told the media that the event was cancelled because it was "sensitive" and lacked official paperwork.

In an interview with Global Times, Andrew said he is team leader of a local gay group, general manager of a local information counseling group and chairman of a gay website.

"Organizing gay events in Xinjiang is much harder than in Beijing," he said. "Because it is against religion."

For the Norway event, Andrew decided to keep a low profile. He could not be reached for an interview Thursday, but he made a post on gayographic. org Tuesday in which he said a swarm of reporters surrounded him outside the airport.

Yang Ziguang, coordinator of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Center, told the Global Times Thursday that the gay community received a message before the Chinese contest saying no one should participate in such events.

It did not mention the penalty for not listening.

"I don't know who sent out that message, but I think Andrew just ignored it," Yang said.

"Being low key is the best strategy for Andrew to avoid trouble."