OUT
CHINA

Darrel is the Chief of Staff of the Los Angeles LGBT Center, the largest LGBT organization in the world. The Los Angeles LGBT Center has been serving in LGBTQ community on health care, culture events, college advocacy, and social support for almost 50 years ago. Unlike America, China extremely need to build its own influential LGBT organizations. Although nowadays, a number of LGBTQ organizations came into being in some of major cities in China, we still want to approach the leading LGBT organizations overseas in order to help develop Chinese LGBTQ community.

 

Since 2008, the Los Angeles LGBT Center launched an Emerging Leaders Program and helping develop a network of LGBT leaders on the ground in China. A Chinese LGBT organization Aibai has collaborated with Darrel to work on this leader project together since the start. Now this project has been operating for about 9 years. I have to say that the meaning of this project is incredible and remarkable. I believe that this leader project between The Los Angeles LGBT Center and Aibai in China will definitely contribute to Chinese LGBTQ movements and provide a great opportunity to young leaders from Chinese LGBTQ community to communicate with other leaders from United State and promote Chinese culture Furthermore, the collaboration between Chinese LGBTQ community and American LGBTQ community can be consider as a cross-cultural communication which helps us learn and understand global LGBTQ community. Darrel also mentioned the cultural boundaries and differences of Chinese culture and also the LGBTQ community. One of our goals of doing this web site is to speak out for Chinese LGBTQ and to show the real China to the world.

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Darrel is a charming and experienced leader of LGBTQ here in Los Angeles. Darrel has been to fifteen cities in China, from his perspective about China and Chinese LGBTQ, the movements of LGBTQ in China have been growing rapidly. Meanwhile, he also indicated the cultural difference between China and United State. For example, the big challenge for American LGBTQ people is religious, but Chinse LGBTQ people actually now facing a big challenge, family or parents.

 

We have a lot of interesting findings during the conversion with Darrel. However, we also found out something in common for both communities. As a same community, the LGBTQ community. There is one thing we all need to do, either we really want or do not want. Darrel shared his coming out story with us. He was nervous and anxious about how to tell his parents that he is gay. Finally, he came out to his parents and his mother took some time to accept the truth. Moreover, LGBTQ people in China also have struggled with one challenge, come out to their parents.

 

Like Darrel said, the point to solve these issues is the relationship between kids and parents. In the same way, the relationship between different LGBTQ communities and the relationship between people can be valuable. Today, we are sharing people’s stories and we are asking for your support, no matter where you are from and where are you living.