A Summer of … Love?

As the heat descends on East Asia for a long, hot summer, tempers are already boiling in Korea. The anger is over a decision to ban the city’s gay pride festival. Planned for June, the march had been threatened with pickets from rightwing Christian groups. The police solution? In the interests of “equity” and maintaining public order, they have banned both the march and the counter-demonstration. Of course though, since the whole aim of the counter-demonstration was to stop the march, in effect the police have sided with the anti-gay protesters.

Hearteningly, Korean gay activists have not taken the defeat and are petitioning back with the support of Japanese gay groups under the faith-in-humanity-restoring banner of Tokyo X Seoul Solidarity Under the Rainbow.

Keep fighting the good fight!

Whatever happens with the street parade, the city’s gay clubs will stage I:M, a pride dance party, featuring the gleaming torsos of the transcontinental pecorati, regardless.

Elsewhere around the region, Bangkok is hosting its (first?) gay film festival, sponsored by Attitude magazine, the bears hit the beach in Taiwan for the 6X party and Guangzhou’s Papa Party will celebrating its second anniversary.