Taiwan, Chinese gay rights groups to welcome first gay cruise

Feb 2, 2010, 8:20 GMT

Taipei - A US travel company plans to send the first gay cruise to Taiwan and China in March, which is expected to renew the discussion of homosexuality and reflect the diversity of human sexual expression, gay rights activists said Tuesday.

Lu Hsin-chieh, spokeswoman for the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline, said Azamara Quest's March voyage to Shanghai in China and Keelung in Taiwan was good news for the island's tourism industry and gay rights campaign.

'In recent years, there has been growing exposures of gays in the Taiwan society. We hope our government can hold a welcome ceremony for this cruise ship,' she said.

Taiwan usually welcomes foreign cruise liners by performing the lion dance, beating drums and gongs and exploding firecrackers at the pier, to encourage such ships to visit the island.

Taiwan sexologist and writer Hsu You-sheng said the arrival of hundreds of gay couples will be a shock for some people, especially in China where homosexuals are still suppressed.

'When a large cruise ship brings nearly 1,000 homosexuals, mostly couples, to the shore, it shows that homosexuals are not sex perverts and they can form steady and happy relationships like heterosexuals,' he said by phone.

'It was popular in the West long ago. These cruises usually sail to Central American islands. It is a good thing they are coming to Asia, which is an uncharted territory for gay tourism,' he said.

China's official press has not reported on the visit to Shanghai, but mainland gay and lesbian websites called it a 'China-focused gay cruise' and printed a chart of the voyage and photo of the ship.

Lu Damien, a counsellor for China's Aibai.com gay website, said he did not expect a single event to have any effect on the gay rights movement in Asia.

'However, any activity that highlights the diversity of human sexual expression is a good thing. At the very least, events like this could promote open social discussion,' he said.

The Azamara Quest, chartered by the California-based Atlantis Events Inc and carrying 684 passengers, will depart from Shanghai on March 20 for its 10-day North Asia tour.

It will dock at Busan, South Korea; Hiroshima, Japan; Keelung, Taiwan; Shanghai and end the tour in Hong Kong on March 30.

On the same day, it will depart from Hong Kong on its South-east Asia tour with port calls at Nha Trang and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, Bangkok and Ko Samui in Thailand, and Singapore.