Hong Kong has just had its second annual pride parade on November 1, 2009, just a day after the Taipei pride march that recorded the largest number of marchers ever in the history of Asia's pride parade in which 25,000 people turned out to show their pride and solidarity. It was the first pride march for me and my partner.

The parade themed "Be Proud! Be Yourself!" received wide publicity around the world. Even if nothing had changed in terms of public policy, at the very least, the parade achieved the objective of coming out loud and proud to the world in greater visibility. The aim of the parade was to raise awareness and promote understanding of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered persons besides bolstering the courage and confidence of the LGBTQ communities themselves.

Hong Kong's second pride parade recorded a total of 1800 participants, nearly doubled the number of marchers last year, thanks to parade director Connie Chan and her dedicated team of committee including members from the Women's Coalition of Hong Kong, Rainbow of Hong Kong, Midnight Blue, and Gay Harmony (counseling hotline).
This year, renowned Hong Kong film director Ann Hui was conferred the title of the first Rainbow Ambassador. Ann has pledged to lobby for equal rights for the LGBTQ community in Hong Kong.

Parade participants gathered at the Southorn Playground in Wan Chai at 2:30 pm as they prepared for the hour-long march. LGBTQ groups from Hong Kong, mainland China, Taiwan, gay and straight citizens of Hong Kong, foreign expats and tourists from around the world turned out at Hong Kong's largest street party. A giant pink ball was bounced up and down over the crowd, and a rainbow shower launched. About 20 volunteers held a giant rainbow flag and participants went under it to get the "rainbow shower." With the giant flag leading the way, the parade kicked off into Hennessy Road as the public looked on. Some cheered as marchers sang, danced to the music and chanted slogans in their pink costumes holding rainbow flags, placards, and colorful banners along the route to Chater Garden in Central.

Besides those mentioned earlier, LGBTQ organizations in Hong Kong that participated had included LGBTQ Christian Student Movement, Blessed Minority Christian Fellowship, Elements LGBTQ Teens Club (a voluntary organization reaching out to queer teens through social activities, peer counseling, parental support, school talks, & HIV testing), and Civil Rights for Sexual Diversities among others.
China's contingents included LGBT groups from Beijing , Tianjin, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shandong, Shanghai and Guizhou among others. Taiwan was represented by InterPride (International Association of Pride organizers) and Taipei's Gingin bookstore.
 International groups that participated had included the Interbank LGBT Exchange represented by 13 international banks including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, and UBS, as well as Amnesty International. Teenage boys and girls with painted faces held up placards while chanting human rights slogans.

Blessed Minority Christian Fellowship, Hong Kong's only non-denominational Christian community, marched for the second year. BMCF has been reaching out to those most marginalized by church and society since 1992. About a dozen LGBT members of BMCF turned out to march, holding a rainbow flag with the words "God Loves the Queer Too" pasted across it. Pastor Wong, a straight ally working with BMCF, also joined in the march. BMCF members handed out brochures stating their beliefs that homosexuality is not a sin and that it is possible for homosexuals to truly be Christians. The church has a good number of straight allies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Divinity School of Chung Chi College.
At the closing program in Chater Garden, parade participants were treated to a feast of popular songs and dance performed by local queer and straight artistes.   The Chater Together After Pride Parade Show was hosted by openly gay radio DJ Brian Leung of RTHK2's "We are family" gay radio program which broadcast weekly. Several members of Hong Kong's first gay soccer team One Nil were interviewed on stage. At the end of the show, Brian led the audience in joining hands and raising them high while chanting the slogan "Gay and straight living in harmony, equality and mutual respect" showing that "we are a family" regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Hong Kong's premier English paper the South China Morning Post published a positive report on Monday titled "Members of the gay and lesbian community turn out to paint the town pink with pride." Parade director Connie Chan was quoted as saying, "Many Hong Kong people still see same-sex partners as queer or something that they should stay away from. We hope to make the parade more like a carnival rather than a protest demanding this or that from the government. We hope people see us as a happy community."
Following the successful campaign this year to have same-sex couples covered under the Domestic Violence Ordinance, the next item on the agenda of Hong Kong's LGBTQ activists is to have sexual orientation covered under Hong Kong's anti-discrimination law. The greatest resistance has been coming from right-wing Christian groups. So there is still much work to be done.
The long term goal of the LGBTQ movement can best be summed up in the objective of the World Chinese Tongzhi (LGBTQ) Conference held in Hong Kong in 1999, which states in part: "Let everyone be a healthy person under the sun... Let there be no discrimination, fear or hatred on account of race, culture, age, gender, sexual orientation, class, language or any other difference among people. Let us accept, respect and appreciate each other's differences, and learn from those differences until the polarization between homosexuality and heterosexuality is broken down, and a truly harmonious society is born."