Later that year, in a similar fashion to how the Beijing LGBT Center revealed its closure, LGBT Rights Advocacy China, a nonprofit organization with a focus on changing law and policy concerning queer people in the country, suddenly announced in a WeChat post that it had shut down but did not disclose the exact reason. A year later, Chinese social platform WeChat quietly deleted dozens of LGBTQ accounts run by university students, claiming that some had broken rules about publishing information on the internet. Meanwhile, groups advocating for LGBTQ rights have long had to deal with close scrutiny and routine crackdowns by the government.Īs a result of China’s intensified effort to reduce the space for queer activism, ShanghaiPRIDE, one of the country’s longest-running and biggest festivals celebrating its LGBTQ movement, decided to stop all activities in 2020 to protect the safety of its people. Same-sex marriage is yet to be recognized, and queer people still face discrimination and animosity in society. These reports, according to Longarino, “crucially filled an information void and have been continuously cited by journalists, activists, and academics.”Īlthough China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997, living in a truly accepting and inclusive society still remains a distant dream for the Chinese LGBTQ community. In a country where LGBTQ-related research is hard to conduct competently due to the sensitivity of the topic, the Center was able to work with forward-looking scholars and institutions to carry out large-scale surveys about the lives of queer individuals in China, such as a 2017 survey with Peking University on the mental health of transgender Chinese people. “Its closure is indicative of the dying of these kinds of community spaces for queer people in China, because the Center had been a beacon for many people, especially younger people in smaller cities and rural areas, to seek refuge.” “A lot of the past participants became volunteers and even staff,” Wang, who has worked with the organization on various initiatives, said. Lawrence University, told The China Project that the Center was special in that it provided “a regular physical meeting place for queer people” in the country. Stephanie Yingyi Wang, an assistant professor of gender and sexuality studies at St. They touched many lives and left beautiful memories,” he added. “Over the years, countless people came through the Center to participate in its life and work in some way. “They provided services to the community like mental health counseling and HIV testing and ran myriad activities like film screenings, exhibitions, English corners, parties, and discussion groups on coming out and intimacy - and so much more.” “The Center was so many things: a hub, a refuge, a flagship, a festival,” Darius Longarino, a research scholar at the Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai Center, who has worked extensively with experts in China seeking to advance LGBTQ rights, told The China Project. In 2014, the Center played a catalyzing role in launching China’s first LGBTQ impact litigation case, helping a gay man win a lawsuit against a practitioner of electroshock conversion therapy.ĭespite tightening restrictions on queer activism in China over the years of its existence, the Center managed to spearhead a variety of influential initiatives, including organizing educational programs geared toward trans healthcare, setting up speed-dating events for queer people, and compiling information on LGBTQ-friendly clinics. One of the group’s first achievements involved educating psychologists in China about conversion therapy, a dangerous practice that targets LGBTQ youth and seeks to change their sexual or gender identities. For those who had donated to the organization, they could request information about how their donations will be handled.įounded in 2008, the Beijing-based organization was a prominent LGBTQ advocacy group that fought tirelessly for queer rights and provided a vibrant space for members of the community to connect. The Center added that for people who had paid to attend its events, refunds would be processed by May 26. We hope everything will work well for you in the future.” “We kindly ask for your understanding for any inconvenience caused. “Thank you for following and supporting us over the years,” the statement reads. In the shocking post, the organization said that it had ceased all operations as of today, citing unidentified external factors out of its control. The abrupt announcement of disbandment was posted to the group’s official WeChat account this morning, only two days before the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT), which commemorates the World Health Organization’s 1990 decision to declassify homosexuality as a mental disorder.
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