nightlife

China’s Gay AIDS Bar Is Too Gay + AIDS-y to Open

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With seemingly endless reports of gay bar closures all across America, it was exciting to learn China’s own government would be opening a ‘mo lounge — even if it had a moral purpose, like educating everyone about AIDS. But now that people started talking about it, Chinese officials have nixed the opening.

For now. Yesterday would’ve been a logical day to open the bar: It was Worlds AIDS Day, after all, and nothing says “AIDS education” like pouring a round of Patron Silver shots for a bar full of fags. But alas:

Volunteers have delayed opening China’s first government-backed gay bar following intense media attention, an NGO said Wednesday, highlighting the still taboo nature of homosexuality in the country.

“They were scared their identity would be revealed, that it would lead to misunderstanding and changes in their lives,” said Zhang Jianbo, founder of the Dali HIV/AIDS prevention and health association, the NGO behind the initiative.

The bar in Dali, a tourist town in the southwestern province of Yunnan, aimed to provide a place where homosexuals could meet in a relaxed atmosphere and get information about HIV/AIDS prevention, he told AFP by phone.

Which just means China’s gays will have one fewer places to cruise and get their drink on. Oh well. There’s always Stoli and FBuds.com.

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