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China’s LGBT community finds trouble, hope at end of rainbow
BEIJING, June 2, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – When two women wearing rainbow badges
were beaten up by security guards in an arty part of Beijing last month,
social media users quickly jumped in to fight their corner.
China’s LGBT community may not get much support from authorities, but in a
sign of growing tolerance in Chinese society, people are using the power of
hashtag campaigns to denounce attacks on gays and lesbians.
The two women were walking in Beijing’s trendy “798” district days before
the May 17 International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia
when they were suddenly surrounded and beaten by a group of black-clad
security guards.
A video showing one of the women being knocked to the ground went viral
online under the hashtag #798beating, with users expressing their outrage
over the violence.
Days later, the security company apologised to the women and promised to
dismiss three guards, according to prominent activist Lu Pin.
The public shaming and subsequent apology came weeks after China’s popular
Weibo microblogging platform faced intense criticism for censoring gay
content, with the hashtag #IamGay viewed 240 million times.
Weibo reversed course within days — an unusual concession for the social
network.
And in another incident that caused an online storm, a man in the
southwestern city of Chengdu said his boss had punched his mother and used a
homophobic slur against him after she had confronted the executive for
sacking her son.
The groundswell of public support for the LGBT community may have alarmed
Chinese Communist Party authorities, said Australian National University
criminologist Borge Bakken.
“President Xi Jinping’s regime is very nervous about everything. So they
are cracking down on LGBT events, not particularly because these people are
gay, but because they see their organising as a potential threat,” the China
specialist told AFP.
– Low-key –
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In May, the Canadian embassy in Beijing flew two large rainbow flags in
solidarity with the global LGBT rights movement.
But outside diplomatic property, displaying the banner is not so easy in a
country where homosexuality was still considered a crime 21 years ago and a
mental illness until 2001.
Some groups have kept gay-themed events low-key until the government’s
position on LGBT organising becomes clearer.
Only about a dozen advocates met to mark the anti-homophobia awareness day
on May 17 at a restaurant in Beijing, where they took pictures holding
rainbow stickers and shared them online.
Earlier that day, Li Maizi, a prominent rights activist, said she was
simply walking with rainbow stickers on her cheeks — also in the 798 art
zone — when two security guards began to follow her.
“They only backed away when I looked one in the eye and asked if there was
a problem,” she told AFP.
Despite these recent controversies, Charlene Liu, founder of Shanghai
Pride — a public event taking place for the 10th year in a row in June —
was relatively upbeat.
“We are going to continue things like creating awareness in a peaceful
manner, really showing people we are here, we exist,” Liu told AFP.
“We are like normal people, we are like everyone else.”
Liu said it was not clear whether gay people have been facing a greater
number of attacks, but more people were using smartphones to record and post
incidents online.
“Social media has come such a long way,” Liu said.
“We might see it as an increase in these incidences, but we don’t really
have any data to show or to prove this.”
– ‘Foreign forces’ –
Wuhan University students in central China shared screenshots on social
media last month showing administrators warning them not to participate in an
event to promote LGBT tolerance by wearing rainbow flags because of the
activity’s ties to “foreign forces”.
A broadcaster that had the television rights to the Eurovision song
contest in China blurred out flags being waved during the show and cut out a
gay-themed performance. Gay content is forbidden on online streaming
platforms.
Yet many gay rights activists remain optimistic that things will only get
better for them in China.
“Since the 1990s, young people increasingly have generally higher
acceptance of LGBT people,” said Duan, media director of the Beijing LGBT
Centre, who only goes by one name.
“The visibility of LGBT people is also getting higher and higher. In
recent years, there are many activities held in various places.”
In a sign of more official tolerance, Communist Party mouthpiece the
People’s Daily posted an essay promoting LGBT acceptance to its official
Weibo account in response to the censorship debate.
The state-run China Social Assistance Foundation may also soon approve its
first dedicated fund for LGBT groups, as long as they stay away from “foreign
forces”.
“This way, Chinese LGBT groups will enjoy more autonomy from foreign
funds, and can function more effectively,” the fund’s organiser, Ah Qiang,
told the Global Times.
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