The five best events at this year’s Pink Season Hong Kong
Seminars, boat trips, drag shows, club nights, sporting events and, of course, the traditional beach party make up this year’s LGBTI festival, open as always to gay and straight, young and old
Hong Kong’s annual LGBTI festival, Pink Season, launches at the end of this monthwith five weeks of activities aimed at promoting acceptance, inclusion and awareness. The nearly 25 events are as diverse as the crowd Pink Season hopes to attract, with everything from late-night parties to family picnics planned.
“We’ve made quite a few changes trying to build on the festival. This year there’s a real focus on making it more family friendly and there are more educational events, seminars,” says Pink Season director Phil Howell-Williams.
Take, for example, the “How to Start a Rainbow Family” seminar (October 5), which will see a panel of experts from Hong Kong and overseas discuss how to best negotiate the often tricky business of adoption for gay couples or how to approach surrogacy, and the laws and policies around it. There’s also an event organised by The Economist magazine, “Gallery of Numbers” (October 13), which will look into the economics of diversity and inclusion in company policies.
But it’s not all highbrow and lessons to be learned. This is party season for the pink brigade and their straight friends. The popular events that have come to define the festival – such as the beach party Floatilla – are back, rubbing shoulders with plenty of new activities.
New this year is a Sunday brunch (Oct 2) with a four-course menu and free-flow champagne at French restaurant Bibo. There’s a trivia night planned at Tivo on Wyndham Street on October 19 and for something less cerebral, a beer pong tournament on October 26. And on October 29, a Halloween party at FLM (formerly Volume Beat) will feature live entertainment and prizes for the best dressed.
“We want to make this as inclusive as possible and have as much variety as possible with sport, entertainment, arts, theatre and stuff for the kids – we want to try and have something for everyone,” says Howell-Williams.