China: Yunnan Government Opens Gay "Bar" as Community and Sex Education Center

Local authorities in southwestern Yunnan Province are to convert a bar into a 'common room for partner education' for the gay community, as part of the official initiative to break social stigma against gay men, days after the health minister warned that homosexual sex has become a main factor in the spread of AIDS in the nation. The bar for gays will open tomorrow, World AIDS Day, financed by public funds to the tune of 120,000 yuan ($17, 576), the Beijing News said, offered by Dali Prefecture government, and is to be run by The Good Friend Center, a non-governmental organization for gay men.  Yunnan has the highest number of HIV/AIDS cases in the country, official data indicates. Zhang Jianbo, the bar's manager, told the Global Times that the bar will not be operated for merely commercial purposes but rather serve as a platform to raise awareness of its gay clients about safe sex practice among them. Full Story from Xinhuanet: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-11/30/content_12563452.htm

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