# Gay Pride Comes to Vietnam! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 4, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443 "2012-08-04T18:25:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/1 "2012-08-04T18:25:18Z")
I almost fell out of my chair: [Pride Comes to Vietnam](http://technorati.com/politics/article/pride-comes-to-vietnam/). > [@](#): > > There will be a celebration on the streets of Hanoi this week the like of which Vietnam has never seen before. The historic city will hold its first ever gay pride event his weekend ahead of the country discusses legalizing same-sex marriage. > > \ > There does seem to be a wind of change in the communist country, only last Tuesday government Minister Ha Hung Cuong spoke out against homophobia, saying prejudice against gay people is ‘unacceptable’. If the dates in the article are right, this should be going on right now. I would love to see the leadership of other countries send praises Vietnam for doing the right thing. I wonder if Obama will say anything. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/2 "2012-08-04T18:28:45Z")
Hmm Vietnam might be the first dictatorship to legalize homosexual marriage. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/3 "2012-08-04T18:43:30Z")
If Vietnam legalizes SSM before the United States… I might just cry. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/4 "2012-08-04T19:41:24Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > If Vietnam legalizes SSM before the United States… I might just cry. Damn it. That’s the second time they beat us at something!! ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/5 "2012-08-05T00:50:10Z")
I doubt that Vietnam will legalize same-sex marriage. This is a political game. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/6 "2012-08-05T02:22:15Z")
Care to elaborate? What kind of game? Who is the opponent? What do you think Vietnam is trying to “win”? The Vietnamese government takes a pretty dim view of public acknowledgement of gays. [This gay-themed commercial for Chewy Junior](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4Qw0MQ9Y7I) was banned and the actors & production company were fined. In light of that, I just think it’s amazing that something like a gay pride celebration would even be tolerated. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/7 "2012-08-05T16:22:22Z")
It went on seemingly without a hitch today (Sunday). Update [here](http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific/view/1218100/1/.html). ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/8 "2012-08-12T06:19:37Z")
There’s a good analysis of the situation [here](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/unlikely-vietnam-considers-same-sex-marriage). ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/9 "2012-08-12T07:28:51Z")
This was interesting: > [@](#): > > The country is socially conservative, but the government restricts the kind of politicized religious movements that push back against same-sex marriage in other countries. Gay pride events also seem to pose little threat to Communist Party’s dominance. So certain kinds of social freedoms can thrive where religious dogma is kept in check. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/10 "2012-08-12T08:03:00Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Hmm Vietnam might be the first dictatorship to legalize homosexual marriage. My money is still on Cuba. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/11 "2012-08-12T17:42:15Z")
It would be a clever move on the part of the Vietnam government - hard for other countries to claim you are repressive and infringing on human rights when you can point at them and say, “Well, does your country allow legal Gay marriages like we do?” It would at least take the “holier than thou” shine off their critics, even if it is just a ploy and they continue to be as repressive in every other respect. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/12 "2012-08-13T03:10:10Z")
Travelling through Vietnam, you don’t feel much repression. No doubt it may be different if you live there, but it’s largely a free-wheeling capitalist environment with a nominally communist government locked in place. And they’re already attracting a lot of foreign investment, much of it enticed away from Thailand these days. There’s a huge amount of port development taking place in the South at the moment too, aimed at attracting even more. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/13 "2012-08-13T03:22:28Z")
> [@GreasyJack](#): > > My money is still on Cuba. Have there been any rumblings that such a thing may happen in Cuba? ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/14 "2012-08-13T04:34:30Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Have there been any rumblings that such a thing may happen in Cuba? There was some talk about civil unions earlier this year, but just in general the Cuban government has been on a very pro-LGBT path for the last decade or so, with Fidel even apologizing for the oppression of gays earlier in the regime. A lot of it is that Raul Castro’s daughter is a big LGBT-rights advocate and seems to have been very influential as of late. If things continue down that path (and there isn’t general upheaval) I wouldn’t be too surprised if Cuba gets marriage equality before it gets democracy. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/15 "2012-08-13T09:05:51Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Hmm Vietnam might be the first dictatorship to legalize homosexual marriage. Nah. I’d say ancient Rome under Caligula qualifies as a dictatorship. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gay-pride-comes-to-vietnam/630443/16 "2012-08-13T21:31:35Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > It would be a clever move on the part of the Vietnam government - hard for other countries to claim you are repressive and infringing on human rights when you can point at them and say, “Well, does your country allow legal Gay marriages like we do?” It would at least take the “holier than thou” shine off their critics, even if it is just a ploy and they continue to be as repressive in every other respect. Good point; it would also benefit their tourism industry if they allow foriengers to get married there. It still seems highly unlikely though.