Imagine building a platform for queer artists in a place where that same platform could get you in serious trouble with the government. That’s the reality activist and artist Xiangqi Chen lived with in Shanghai, where she ran a grassroots center for lesbians until pandemic-era crackdowns made the work too dangerous to continue.
The twist? She found her answer 6,000 miles away in San Francisco’s Chinatown—the country’s oldest—where she’s now the architect behind the OUT Museum, which just opened at the end of May with a rainbow-ribbon cutting. It’s a poetic kind of irony that Chen didn’t miss: the same LGBTQ+ activism that could land her in legal jeopardy back home is being celebrated and amplified in the progressive Bay Area.
“Here in San Francisco Chinatown, I still continued my journey and met so many like-minded community members and friends,”Chen told The Associated Press through an interpreter.“It kind of actually encouraged me and gave me lots of strength to do what I know is my mission, my calling.”
The museum itself is modest to start—just one room, open Saturdays only, featuring fewer than a dozen artworks by artists from China and the Chinese diaspora. But what it represents is enormous. Contributions include hand-painted Chinese porcelain and interactive installations where visitors trace their self-discovery journeys through gender and sexuality. For artists like Hong Kong-born Dixon Ngai, who contributed a hand-painted wine pot inspired by the Cantonese opera“Di Nü Hua”(The Flower Princess), it’s a rare outlet. Mainstream media have largely overlooked the Chinese LGBTQ+ community, so finally seeing their voices centered matters.
The real shock, though, came after opening day. Chen received unexpected visitors—longtime Chinese immigrants, both queer and straight, who’ve lived in California for decades. A 60-year-old transgender man shared how he’d immigrated in the 1970s specifically to access gender-affirming care unavailable in China. A mother who’d been struggling to accept her gay son attended and later emailed Chen with gratitude, saying she’s now proud of him and thankful for the events the museum organized. These responses underscore just how much attitudes have shifted. Helen Zia, an author, activist, and museum advisory board member, remembers 2008 differently—when she and others handed out pro-gay marriage flyers in Oakland’s Chinatown.“We got people yelling at us, spitting,”she recalled.
None of this would be possible in mainland China. While the Chinese Psychiatric Association stopped classifying homosexuality as a mental disorder back in 2001, LGBTQ+ couples still cannot marry, adopt, or freely advocate. Between 2013 and 2015, Chen says queer art exhibitions existed in China, but only if artists didn’t explicitly identify as LGBTQ+.“But not nowadays,”she says plainly. The government crackdowns that drove her out made that clear.
As the U.S. faces its own headwinds—with the current administration targeting gender-affirming care and seeking to restrict transgender military service—the OUT Museum’s existence sends a message about what freedom can look like. Chen will walk in her first San Francisco Pride Parade this June, dressed as a woman warrior from a Cantonese opera, promoting the museum.“I think completing this opening will be a start for me. It’s not the end,”she said. And judging by the response so far, she’s right.
About the Author
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.
