HCMC & Hanoi

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A head-spinning, all-encompassing thirst for reinvention in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). Bursts of mischief breaking through the polite pretense of conservative Hanoi. There’s no better way to capture today’s queer nightlife in Vietnam than through the narratives of its seemingly contrasting, yet deeply complementary two largest cities.

If you had visited these cities a decade ago, the underground electronic music scene you encountered would have been shaped largely by expat owners, promoters, and international lineups. Today, local DJs, producers, organizers, club owners, and long-term expats, have transformed underground nightlife from an imported subculture into a distinctly Vietnamese movement. And while queer nightlife remains on the fringes, it pulses with newfound necessity—and urgency—marrying explosive modern club nights and extravagant drag performances with homegrown, trans-led folk arts, genderfluid rituals, and localized ballroom culture.

As much as this issue is a testament to progress in queer acceptance and celebration, it’s also a call for protection and preservation. Just weeks after ISSUE 02 went to print, multiple venues featured in its pages announced their closure, placing urgent pressure on the survival of queer nights.

But all is not lost—at least not in Vietnam. As we type these words, Vietnamese queers are mobilizing for spaces, sending DMs left and right to organize balls, and still dancing—dancing for themselves and for our community; dancing long and dancing loud, until their existence and movements are not just acknowledged, but upheld as rights.

For too long, narratives about Vietnam and its nightlife have been defined by outside perspectives—reduced to exotic spectacles, pitiful victimization, and borrowed expressions. The reality is far more intricate, deeply personal, and unmistakably relentless. ISSUE 02 brings together 15 stories from those who live, shape, and sustain these spaces. Step inside, listen to their voices, feel their struggles as it turns to joy, and glimpse the future of Vietnamese queer nightlife.

ABOUT ISSUE 02

No One in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi presents an all-enveloping world of Vietnamese queer nightlife, swerving between its cities’ euphoric fumes, sobering humidity, celebratory shrieks, and ongoing dialogue between past and present.

Some histories sleep in textbooks, others are kept alive through modern practices. “The Queer Art That Counts” traces Vietnam’s earliest decolonized folk art led by trans performers, “The Flamboyant Divine” shadows a contemporary interpretation of genderfluid religious rituals, while “Where Do We Meet?” draws a mental map of Hanoi’s queer spaces between the ’70s and today.

On other pages, colors saturate and the volume rises: “The Cinema of Dancing Sapphics,” “Saigon’s Queer Quintet,” “Stumbling Towards Queer Joy,” and “Drag Our Way Forward” give a glimpse of the boundless energy of local bê-đê, Vietnam’s once derogatory term for faggot, but now a term of empowerment, turning absurdity and the grotesque into irresistibility.

The issue highlights how nightlife is more than a space—it’s a home for one and for all: “Homecoming,” “About Our Place,” and “A Sleepless Night at Equation” are personal recollections of self-realization and belonging. They tell stories of a Vietnamese diaspora returning to their homeland at a ball, the formation of a local refuge, and a slap of reality that punctured our protective veil. These narratives challenge the one-dimensionalization of nightlife, asking both its participants and observers to seek deeper meaning between its highs and lows.

Beyond the dance floor, queerness permeates through the cities. “Hear from Hanoi’s Queers” and “Bê-Đê by Night” take life at night into its quiet hours, tracing moments of connection that unfold not just in the rush of a crowd but in the stillness of care and companionship.

ISSUE 02 also embraces new rhythms and forms: “Như Bóng Nào Mà Chẳng Nổi Trên Nước” weaves poetry into the reading flow, inviting readers to drift, dance, and surrender—only held together by the echoes of hearts moved by the night.

With hearts in mind, “A Heart Moved by a Dance” and “Through Another Lens” frame nightlife as both a space to inhabit and a collective of people to relate to, and connect with. Moving between these focal points, these photo stories paint the evening as abundant and expansive, as it is intimate and personal.

Through it all, ISSUE 02 stands as both a reflection and a call to keep moving, creating, and gathering—because while these spaces may be fleeting, their impact is indelible.
 

No One Core Team

Việt & Jeremy Raider-Hoàng

Editorial Design

Duy Nguyễn

Proofreader

Tom Biddulph

Local Advisors

Nhung Đình, Dan Ni, PH00000NG

Contributors

Mắt Bét, Iori Pinklady Mizrahi, Jonathan Poirier, Minh Anh Nguyễn, Trần Tín Nghĩa, Khoa Vo Dang, Thy Đào, Vũ Nguyễn Uyển My, Mưa, Kat Joplin, Hohish Hồ, Vũ Hoàng, Khánh Phúc Nguyễn, Bư Nguyễn, Hồng-Khang Phan, Kai Nguyễn, Xuân-Tùng Lê, Nguyên Khôi Vũ, Long Nguyễn, Nhung Đinh, Minh-Anh Nguyễn, Gio Dionisio

Cover Stickers Courtesy of

Lô Tô, Vấp Cục Đá, Bung L0n, GenderFunk, Dập Dìu Drag Haus, A Queer Museum, Peach, Equation Festival, Snug, Savage, Gái Nhảy, The Iconic House of Mizrahi Vietnam Chapter

Promo Video & Magazine Product Shots

(in)visible space studio

Funded by ISSUE 01 Sales with Support By

Creative Industries Fund NL