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December 1999 The Newsletter of CRA - Gay Chinese Organization in Greater Los Angeles Volume 4 Issue 12 |
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CRA Board Needs You |
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Hello, Fellow CRA members, We’d like to thank everyone for a successful year. CRA has achieved a lot with your help and participation in the past year. Besides our popular monthly socials CRA has held many successful special events like CSW parade, beach volleyball, A Night of TemptAsian. We have enjoyed our tasks very much and hope you have had as much fun as we have with CRA activities. As the New Year comes, CRA will be going through some changes and we are going to install a new board. At this moment we need people to fill the board positions. CRA is your organization and your active involvement is the key to the future development and success of our group. This is your chance to contribute to the community and help out others. It is also a great opportunity for your own growth and improvement. If you are interested in becoming a CRA board member please contact us. The ballot will be sent out with the next newsletter and the results will be announced at the Chinese New Year banquet on February 6th (see further notice).
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The 4th “ Lotus Imperial
Court”: A Bigger and Better Event |
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New gay Asian emperor and empress were crowned at the festive pageant on Oct. 23, 1999, at the Hollywood Park Casino. Four years ago, Gay Vietnamese Alliance (GVA) initiated a pageant and contest, promoting Vietnamese beauty and talents. This year, the “Lotus” blossomed into a pan-Asian pride event that attracted an estimated crowd of 1,500 people. The main event was the beauty contest, male hunks and female impersonators vied for the titles in front of the audience and judges in traditional/casual wear, swim wear, and evening/formal wear. Interposed among their catwalks were dance and singing numbers to entertain the large, often very enthusiastic and boisterous crowd. From the traditional Vietnamese lantern dance to the modern jazz number by young generation X Vietnamese women, to the songs by well-known Vietnamese singers, the show maintained its high energy and often humorous atmosphere. In the male category, (I know some of you guys are only interested in this part), the competition was stiff (no pun intended). Many handsome men vied for attention and cheers. Among them, Pierre Chen and Daniel Kuang were Chinese. Beautiful bodies were abundant: Daniel, Alan, Michael, Davin with their fabulous chiseled torso and legs, Pierre and Nelson with their most “kissable” faces, etc., etc. Yummy, yummy! The judges must have had a tough job picking the winners. Among the judges were Karina (the most decorated API drag queen in the entire Southland), and Lito Torres (the producer/director of the great shows at the El Rey theater). At the end, after the lengthy question and answer session, the winners were announced. To no one’s surprises, the Princess was Philipina Nina and the Empress title went to Philipino queen Vi. The Emperor was Korean Davin Lee and the Prince was a Vietnamese cutie. As you can see from the ethnicity of the royalties, this event was truly pan-Asian and all–inclusive. Just as the first part of the night was for arrival and socializing (which was great fun), the last hour was for disco dancing. A large dance crowd jammed the spacious dance floor. The dancing was hot with good looking Asian boys and men everywhere. This lasted into the late hour of the night. This pageant is GVA’s largest annual event. Before the show, Lawrence and Alex had wanted to make it pan-Asian and more affordable to attend. They have succeeded! Once more, a gay Asian organization has shown that we Asians, in spite of the differences, can cooperate and unite, and be proud of ourselves. I believe this event will go down into history with many happy memories. |
