China’s LGBT community has had a tough year: Censors have shut down social media forums, news media have curbed coverage of gay issues and online shops have removed rainbow-themed products.
The tighter restrictions have led the community to prepare for muted celebrations of the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia today.
“We don’t really know what to do. The LGBT community in many ways is being bullied and the sense of powerlessness becomes stronger,” said Rush, a university student who only gave her pen name for fear of repercussions.
Photo: AFP
For last year’s International Day, diversity events sprung up across the nation’s universities, where many students distributed rainbow badges and flyers to show their support for LGBT groups.
The unprecedented scale of the celebrations caught the attention of the authorities.
This year, only a few small-scale screenings of LGBT movies are to be held in private across campuses, activists said.
EU embassies are also hosting diversity events, while others are flying the rainbow flag.
A year ago, Sina Weibo banned gay content, triggering a huge backlash that prompted the company to reverse its decision.
However, a new social media crackdown emerged last month amid a cleanup campaign to erase content that betrayed “correct marriage views and ethics.”
A flurry of online content was censored, including several popular LGBT discussion groups that had millions of followers and various gay search results on popular video streaming site Bilibili.
Rush was heartbroken when she discovered that groups were shut down. One of the now-banned lesbian pages helped her come to terms with her identity and opened a new world for her.
“It was torturous trying to accept myself,” Rush said. “[It] gave me a will to continue to live.”
Independent online media have removed LGBT sections and local reporters have said that self-censorship is common.
In the past year, the Taobao e-commerce platform shut down shops selling rainbow flags and clothing with queer phrases, while gay scenes in Bohemian Rhapsody were censored.
“It’s a warning signal ... an unfriendly shrinking space or a way to control the voice of LGBTQ,” said Duan, a member of the Beijing LGBT Center, who declined to give his full name.
“We feel that in this environment we should speak out more and create more dialogue. If no one speaks out for the LGBTQ, then everyone will feel that discussing homosexual topics is a very sensitive issue,” Duan added.
The government’s tightening grip is also going offline.
For the first time in China, two LGBT groups in Guangzhou earlier this year were shut down for being “illegal organizations,” according to a government notice.
Many LGBT nonprofits have struggled to register with the government, while those already registered can rarely publicly promote gay rights, groups have said.
Many groups persist, but have had to brand themselves as groups advocating for public health.
Although the LGBT community has made huge strides in the past 20 years, the state has become increasingly oppressive, said advocate Feng Yuan (馮媛), who cofounded Equality, a Beijing-based nonprofit focusing on women and gender.
“It appears to be more and more difficult [for the community], mainly because there is a lack of friendly and supportive laws and framework, a greater emphasis on control and management,” Feng said.
The LGBT community has had mixed success in court, losing in their push for marriage rights, but winning cases against job discrimination and a hospital that offered gay “conversion” therapy.
Last month, a Beijing court dismissed an appeal against enforced rules by the national media watchdog that ban gay content on film and TV, and describe homosexuality as “abnormal.”
“If the media can’t talk about homosexuality, it deprives the public of the opportunity to understand the LGBTQ community,” said Yanzi, an advocate involved in LGBT-related court cases. “It will only increase discrimination and injustice for the gay community.”
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