Difficult times for LGBTQ people
In recent years, more and more organizations in China that campaign for the rights of the LGBTQ community have had to close. The party propagates classic gender roles. Yet people who move outside of gender norms have never been as visible as they are today.
With the closure of the Beijing LGBT Center on May 15 the most important and nationally known safe space disappeared for people in China who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer. Founded in 2008, the center campaigned for their rights and offered support, for example on issues relating to physical and mental health, discrimination and rights.
The Work of civil society groups overall, and LGBTQ-friendly organizations in particular, has increased in China over the past ten years. increasingly difficultIn 2021, the group LGBT Rights Advocacy China, which had advocated for homosexuals in court, was dissolved. In the same year, nearly 20 WeChat accounts of LGBTQ and gender studies groups were closed.
Hostile environment for LGBTQ organizations
Queer dating apps and other groups on social networks disappeared. Some of them fell victim to the so-called “Shadow Banning”, which cuts them off from high-reach target groups. The action is formally sanctioned by Beijing’s campaign against non-governmental organizations. Since the beginning of 2017 In the People's Republic, the NGO law applies, which severely restricts the groups in their work.
The Communist Party is increasingly less tolerant of other organizations. However, the groups fulfill an important function in the perception of those affected. The Beijing LGBT Center, for example, had set up a hotline for people at risk of suicide. In addition, the Center campaigned for greater visibility of the community in Chinese societyIn 2016, it conducted the largest survey ever conducted on issues of sexual and gender diversity in China. Chinese universities have been involved in the center's research on several occasions.
The oppressed lose their homes
Official reasons for closing the LGBT Center were "unforeseeable circumstances" and "force majeure". Their discretion is probably due to state pressure. The filmmaker Butt Fan, who helped to build the center and was a member of the board for a time, writes on his Facebook page: “This is not only a great loss for LGBT culture and civil society in China, but also means that many of the oppressed have lost their homes.”
To date, it has not been made public whether the center had to close due to pressure from above. Members of the center reported to German Wave However, they were often interrogated and harassed by the police.
The government tends to oppose LGBT rights
Anyone who still gets involved now is living dangerously. “It is very risky to hold events like a Pride Parade in China today. The government could quickly implement such a classify political protest, which can result in prison sentences for the organizers," explains Monika Ke in an interview with Table.Media (name changed).
The journalist and trans* woman has focused particularly on the representation of LGBTQ in Chinese social media. "On the one hand, people outside of heteronormative role models have more visibility there than ever before. On the other hand, classic role models and family values are glorified." Ke certainly sees an inglorious role on the part of the government. "Conservative anti-LGBTQ activists closely monitor these narratives."
Discrimination in the workplace
Homosexuality was officially decriminalized in the People's Republic in 1997. However, same-sex marriage is still prohibited in the patriarchal society, and sexual orientations outside the mainstream often taboo in everyday lifeDiscrimination is also not uncommon in the workplace, as Ke reports. "The official framing is that there is no persecution and oppression of LBGTQ people in China, that according to the constitution they are people like everyone else, and therefore a law punishing their discrimination is not necessary. But of course it is not that simple."
Ke speaks from experience. She also experienced discrimination in the workplace and was ultimately pushed out of the company without being able to really defend herself against it.
The party wants more traditional marriages
One reason why the state has recently taken stronger action against LGBTQ groups, may also have something to do with the ageing of Chinese society, which the government is trying to counteract by promoting traditional family and gender roles. The discourse in the USA and Europe is also being used by the Chinese state media to steer the discussion in China in certain directions, believes Ke. "The issue of public toilets is also hotly debated in China, or JK Rowling is being elevated to a kind of anti-transgender icon who has been the victim of a witch hunt."
At the same time, many conservatives would try to portray LGBTQ issues as Conspiracy of foreign forces or to portray excesses of capitalism that attack China's national interests. The Chinese public as a whole has become more tolerant, says Ke. Many young people see themselves as allies of the community.
In 2018, a Attempt to ban LGBTQ content on Weibo stopped by a collective online outcry. "At the same time, hate comments are more intense than ever", says Ke. "Society seems to be very open to LGBTQ issues increasingly polarized to be, and of course conservatives are gaining more power in Chinese social media than progressives. That will not change anytime soon."