More than 1,000 people showed their support for China's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community at Saturday's opening of the second annual Shanghai Pride, China's only LGBT festival.

While some events at last year's festival were shut down or met with opposition from local police and officials, Saturday's event kicked off without any obstacles.

"There is a huge desire for something more in the gay community," said Kenneth Tan, a spokesperson for Shanghai Pride. "The event is about getting the gay community to come out collectively as a whole."

The eight Chinese and two foreign organizers have reached out to LGBT groups throughout China to bring the communities together. The three-week festival that concludes on Nov 6 will include panel discussions, film screenings, art exhibitions, picnics and parties.

"It's a great opportunity for expats to mix with the Chinese LGBT community," said one woman from Australia, who has lived in China for seven years and asked to remain anonymous. "It's nice to make a small village in a large place."

This second festival for Shanghai and China's LGBT community is once again a significantly groundbreaking event for tolerance and acceptance of this community in China.

While the exact number of gays and lesbians in China is unknown, the government predicts there are 5 to 10 million. Zhang Beichuan, a leading Chinese scholar in the area of homosexuality, estimates there are about 30 million. However, those figures could be much bigger given China's huge population.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in 1997 but was not taken off the official list of mental disorders until 2001, and even though tolerance of gays and lesbians has improved, it is still a taboo subject.

Cui Zi'en, a Beijing-based filmmaker and a leading gay theorist and activist, said he would not classify people's attitudes toward gays and lesbians as positive or negative, but more and more people are paying attention.

"Besides the booming real estate market in China, homosexuality is what people are most actively discussing," Cui said.

For many homosexuals in China, events like Shanghai Pride are crucial to educate people about what it is like to be gay.

One of the festival's Chinese organizers, surnamed Chen, said he grew up in Northeast China thinking he was the only gay boy in China. There were no news reports about gays leading normal lives, and most available resources linked gay men with HIV and AIDS.

Being able to be open about his sexuality and to have a community of people who accept him has changed his life.

"I feel I'm freed," he said.

"I really want to do something for young people so they know it's normal to be gay," he added. "If I can help one person to make their life easier then it'll be good."