“Secret Love” | Östasiatiska Museet

Images from Stockholm’s Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities (Östasiatiska Museet)’s current “Secret Love” exhibition by Chinese artists who explore the taboo sexualities.

South China Morning Post reports that parents of over 100 Chinese gays and lesbians have written an open letter to the National People’s Congress demanding marriage equality for the nation’s gays and lesbians. 

Below is the letter (in Simplified Chinese):

百余位同性恋者的父母致信全国人大代表

      呼吁同性婚姻立法的公开信

尊敬的全国人大代表您好！

   

    我们来自五湖四海，我们的孩子是同性恋者，我们被称为“同志父母”，我们的孩子因为同性倾向原因，无法与相爱的人合法组成家庭，结为“夫夫或妇妇”，给生活和就医等诸多方面带来不便。

 

    按照社会学常识，同性恋者约占总人口的3-5%，照此推算，中国约有6000万同性恋者，他们因为现行的《婚姻法》规定只能一男一女结合，而被排斥在婚姻殿堂之外。我们的孩子有些跟同性伴侣已生活了近10年，他们相互照应，相亲相爱，却不能在另一伴生病需要手术时合法签字。身为同性恋者的家长，我们时常感到焦虑，因为不能合法结婚，我们孩子在领养下一代、生病手术签字、继承伴侣财产、甚至买房等各方面都受到不同程度的影响。

    匪夷所思的是，我们的同性恋孩子尽管不爱异性，却拥有合法与异性结婚的权利。众所周知，同性恋与异性结婚，造成“同妻”、“同夫”等严重的社会问题，也让更多的人生活不幸福。难道我们的法律是要鼓励同性恋与异性结婚吗？

 

    另外，同性恋并不违反任何现行的中国法律，同性恋者是具有各项权利的中华人民共和国公民，同性恋者的结婚权利不能长期被剥夺。

 

    我们恳请全国人大代表和政协委员们给予关注，倾听1.2亿“同志家长”的心声，体恤6000万同性恋者对平等和尊严的渴盼，呼吁尽早修改《婚姻法》，让中国6000万同性恋公民拥有平等的婚姻权。

 

    感谢您在百忙之中关注此事，并祝工作愉快，身体健康！

 

    此致

 

    敬礼！                          

                          同性恋亲友会家长群部分家长

                                   2013年2月25日

Newsweek reports on the relationship between the government and LGBT in China. The magazine writes:

As with minorities, official opposition to gay groups occurs only when the government feels threatened by unity or organizing. When gays are seen as individuals, it’s much less of a problem. “China’s feel is a bit like ancient Rome,” says Li Yinhe, a professor at China’s Academy of Social Sciences who is known as the country’s premier sexologist. “If you do something gay it doesn’t mean you’re gay.” In other words, men having sex with men falls under the category—culturally and politically—of something allowed, perhaps even more so than in the U.S., provided that it doesn’t lead to a group agitating for rights, and providing that it’s unspoken, and done behind closed doors.

Essentially, the government’s ambivalence toward Chinese queers has to do with not understanding how to integrate LGBT within the harmonious society it is obsessed with building.

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In what would be a precedent of civil law litigation in China, a Chinese man is suing the Beijing Red Cross for discrimination after his blood donation was rejected because he disclosed he is gay.

The AFP reports:

The man, an editor identified by his pen name Wang Zizheng, said he was gay in a health questionnaire filled out when he went to donate blood in early June, and was then told he could not be a donor, the China Daily said.

According to regulations issued by China’s health ministry and published by the national blood transfusion association, “homosexuals and those with multiple sex partners” cannot be donors.

Wang, who says he has been the victim of discrimination, filed the lawsuit in Beijing and is waiting for the court to accept the case, the report said.

“For thousands of homosexuals in China, someone has to stand out,” he was quoted as saying, adding he was seeking a public apology from the blood centre and wanted to become a donor.

We like that this man is going for the right and the public apology! We hope his case will be heard by the Chinese courts.

In an act of startling desperation, 23-year-old Qinqin (not her real name) of Hanshan county, Anhui Province, tried to end her own life on May 14th by swallowing pesticides because she couldn’t tell her husband she was in love with another woman, reports China’s Global Times. After repeated requests for a divorce, Qinqin said, “I threatened to kill myself if I couldn’t get divorced but my husband and mother-in-law did not approve.” Upon learning about Qinqin’s sexual orientation and her relationship with her 20-year-old Beijing roommate Lanlan (not her real name) by checking their daughter’s voice mail, Qinqin’s parents have contemplated sending her counseling in hopes of “correcting” her sexual orientation.

Forced marriages are not uncommon in China especially in rural areas where the social pressure is so strong to marry and raise a family. Alternatively, many, particularly urban gay men and lesbians, marry each other in xingshi marriages (marriages of convenience), to “deflect the nagging from their parents and relatives.”

Great Global Kiss-in (Shanghai)

On May 17th, in commemoration of International Day Against Homophobia & Transphobia over 100 gay, straight, bisexual and transgender people assembled on a rooftop overlooking the Bund yesterday evening for a kiss-in. Though not quite the public action most kiss-ins tend to be, Shanghai was the only Asian city to participate in the Great Global Kiss-in. Here are a few snaps from the event. See more here.

“We Are Family” is a fascinating interpretation of the Chinese characters that literally is closer to “One’s own people,” but of course, the spirit of community is the same in both. We’re totally stoked that We Are Family has won an award and even if it didn’t, they are doing great work carving a cultural space and representation of tongzhi, LGBT, queers in Hong Kong. Bravo!

We Are Family, the first ever LGBT radio programme on Hong Kong’s public airwaves, won the Grand Prize in the Chinese radio category in the 14th Annual Human Rights Press Awards.

http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/radio2/wearefamily/

(via zirconic)

USA Today takes a little look at the tongzhi community (LGBT/queer community) in China. What’s most interesting in this piece is the recognition that the authoritarian Communist government is key to granting activists the social space in order to work on changing the attitudes of the people.

Wei Xiaogang, who runs the Queercomrades.com site in Beijing, says, “If we can’t change attitudes at the top [the government], it’s very hard to change them at the grass roots..

(Above: Picture of the 2009 Mr. Gay Hong Kong pageant. On the far right, Rick Twombley, an American, was - perhaps oddly - the winner.)