![\"Organisers](\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1\/2018\/01\/29\/07\/wire-2178866-1517211201-534_634x421.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Organisers said they were amazed to receive the green light to hold the festival in public for the first time<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Myanmar\u00b4s notorious Section 377, a remnant of British rule, criminalises so-called \u201cunnatural\u201d sex and has been used to target LGBT people in the socially conservative nation.<\/p>\n
Political reforms have broadened the space for free expression and civil society, but rights groups decry entrenched homophobic attitudes and widespread discrimination against the community.<\/p>\n
Organisers said they were therefore amazed to receive the green light to hold the festival in public rather than the more discreet garden of the French Institute as they had in the past.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1\/2018\/01\/29\/07\/wire-2178868-1517211202-141_634x421.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe festival will take to the road later this year to spread the word \u2014 and the glitter \u2014 across the country<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The widening acceptance boosted numbers with some 6,000 people coming along on the first day alone, compared with 2-3,000 over the whole festival in previous years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say this is not just for the LGBT community. This is for the whole country, acknowledging equality and basic human rights,\u201d said 33-year-old festival co-director Hla Myat Tun.<\/p>\n
\u2013 LGBT rights in the jungle \u2013<\/p>\n
The aim of the event, which runs over two consecutive weekends, is to educate as well as to entertain.<\/p>\n
LGBT volunteers were on hand at a \u201chuman library\u201d to discuss their personal stories while a series of LGBT-focused documentaries are also being screened.<\/p>\n
![\"Rights](\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1\/2018\/01\/29\/07\/wire-2178870-1517211204-313_634x421.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Rights groups say that homophobia is still entrenched in Myanmar<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cA Simple Love Story\u201d tells the touching tale of the relationship between a trans-man in Yangon and his part-time lover and trans-woman in Mandalay.<\/p>\n
Another film, \u201cThis Kind of Love\u201d, charts the life of veteran LGBT activist Aung Myo Min, from student protester in the 1988 uprising to armed rebel in the jungle, where he fought against military rule for five years.<\/p>\n
He hopes his story will help break down stereotypes.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople were really surprised to see gay men like me on stage, giving a political speech,\u201d the 52-year-old told AFP before introducing his film on stage.<\/p>\n
![\"Races,](\"http:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1\/2018\/01\/29\/07\/wire-2178872-1517211205-986_634x421.jpg\")
<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRaces, games and music were some of the highlights of the \u201c&Proud\u201d LGBT festival in Yangon<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cI went to the jungle which is totally dominated by macho men and very restrictive military rules. So I survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
As DJs rounded off the weekend\u00b4s festivities by playing community classics like \u201cYMCA\u201d to revellers, organisers were already eyeing up the next stage of their campaign to rid the country of the discriminatory law.<\/p>\n
The festival will take to the road later this year to proudly spread the word, the partying and the glitter across the country.<\/p>\n