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Written by jay
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Friday, 09 May 2008 07:24 |
ABC News is getting gayer and gayer these days, no? Somebody in the executive offices over there must really be after our fag ad dollars because they're now doing a 10-part series on international nightlife which included this piece last week about gays tangoing in Buenos Aires, this one about underground gays in Kenya, and now this piece about the Beijing gay nightclub Destination, which we've previously featured in our International Events calendar and which was briefly shut down in March during an apparent wave in anti-gay policing. The basic take-away here is that you still should feel lucky to be American or Western European if you're a homosexualist- t'aint so easy getting your gay on when everyone's in the closet, you might lose your job or get raped with a beer bottle in an alley, and the police don't give a fuck about you and/or want to arrest you. A few more specifics after the jump.
Gay Tango in Buenos Aires
It seems that the Argentinian economy going into the toilet in 2001 and the subsequent push for tourism has brought a sudden wave of liberation for Argentinian gays, who previously faced potential death under the post-Evita dictatorship and imprisonment for same-sex dancing under a 1997 edict. Now, gay milongas are springing up largely thanks to one man, Augusto Balanzano.
Fun Fact: "The tango began in the 1800s near the ports on the south side of the
city. It evolved from the overlap of slaves brought from Africa,
immigrant laborers from Europe, Cuban sailors, and women who arrived or
were coerced into working the brothels."
Club Destination in Beijing
It's out in the middle of an industrial area and it's the only place in this city of 17,000,000 where fags can be fags. The country's still trapped somewhere in the early 20th century when it comes to acceptance of gays, and given that a lot of would-be faglets move here from rural towns where it's more like the 18th century, the fellas are just glad to have one hot club to bump uglies in.
Fun Facts: There are apparently 30 to 50 million queers in modern China, and way before the Communist era, back in the Song, Ming and Quing Dynasties, homosexuality is thought to have been pretty common.
Coming Out (or Not) in Kenya
Apparently, gays are "rarely" arrested these days, but it still is not exactly the Golden Age of gaiety in Kenya. Homoesexuality is still illegal, and "you can hug and you can dance together [in certain gay clubs]," says one gay Kenyan, "but no kissing, provocatively touching each other or being romantic." We'll take Johannesburg, thanks!
Fun Fact: Back in the 90s if you went to the Stanley Hotel in Nairobi wearing a pink shirt it was a secret code that you were gay and available. (Kind of like when they wore red ties in early 1900s New York.)
RELATED:
Manhunt's Favorite Newsgay, Thomas Roberts, and All the Newsgays That're Fit to Print
ABC News Finds People In Alabama Not Cool With Gay PDA
Today in Int'l Gay News: China's Anti-Gay Crackdown, Oprah Talks to Gays Around Globe
The Rules: No Pics, No Drugs, No Judgments (ABC News)
Dancing Scruffy Cheek-to-Scruffy Cheek: Gay Tango (ABC News)
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