Beijing’s LGBT scene is pretty active, but where do you go if you’re not surfing the usual apps or meeting people in bars? Hoping to fill this gap, and make it easier for the introverted or the technologically-challenged, Mark Bayles has taken on the Beijing chapter of Open Doors, started by Arizona-native and Shanghai-resident Andrew Shainker (known to his friends as AJ), organizing events throughout the city. We talked to him about Open Doors’ origins, organizing for all different types of people, and how you as a Beijinger can get involved.

Shainker started Open Doors in Phoenix, Arizona, as a means to organize social activities outside of the bar scene and by the time he decided to move to Shanghai it had over 1,000 members. As of last year, the Shanghai branch had accrued over 350 members.

When Bayles first touched down in Beijing, he surfed social website Meetup.com for Beijing LGBT events but was disappointed by the offerings. From there he took matters into his own hands and founded Open Doors Beijing with Shainker, as a way of creating their own social network and providing the opportunity for others to do the same. The group had over 280 members as of the end of 2016.

“We’ve got everything including picnics, hikes, walks, a lot of dinners, movies, museums, and more,” Bayles tells us. “We just had our first poker night last week. It’s been a really great experience for me because I’ve met people from all over the world. I’ve met Beijing residents and it’s really opened my eyes to how everyone seems to be totally the same: they just want to love, be loved, be happy.” He adds: “I had one Chinese guy who told me that he had been a hermit after he broke up with his boyfriend about a year ago. After he saw my post on Meetup, and gave it a try, he has made a lot of friends and he’s doing a lot of activities with people he’s met through Open Doors, even outside of Meetup.”

This platform is important, Bayles argues, because not everyone is confident enough to walk into a bar or start swiping on an app. “I’m kind of an introvert, and just going to a bar or just walking up to somebody is intimidating. This has been a very good avenue for me, getting together with people with similar interests through the Meetup platform.”

Open Doors is always looking for more people to help organize events and get involved. If you are interested, get in touch with Open Doors at opendoorsaz@gmail.com. For upcoming events, check out their page meetup.com/opendoorsbeijing or their website opendoorsbeijing.com.

This article first appeared in the Jan/Feb 2017 issue of the Beijinger.

More stories by this author here.

Email: margauxschreurs@truerun.com

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Photo courtesy of Mark Bayles