China: Meeting a New York Gay Pride Grand Marshal

The NYC Pride celebrations continue this week, leading up to the march on Sunday.

Thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender New Yorkers and their supporters are expected to attend the march, which will led by four grand marshals: Brooke Guinan, an activist, transgender woman and New York City firefighter; Krishna Stone, the director of community relations at Gay Men’s Health Crisis, a support center that fights AIDS; representatives from the American Civil Liberties Union; and Geng Le, a Chinese gay rights activist.

Mr. Geng, whose real name is Ma Baoli, is a former police officer who set up one of China’s first gay advice and networking websites, and later created Blued, which is one of the country’s most popular gay dating apps.

He was selected to be a grand marshal in recognition of his successful use of the internet to raise awareness among China’s gay community and of his passion for L.G.B.T. rights. Read more via New York Times