{"id":7482,"date":"2013-02-20T17:25:26","date_gmt":"2013-02-20T09:25:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/?p=7482"},"modified":"2013-02-20T18:09:36","modified_gmt":"2013-02-20T10:09:36","slug":"hope-for-gays-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/hope-for-gays-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Hope on the Horizon for Gays in China"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is Part 5 of a series attempting to explore the mindset of young Chinese by focusing on themes found in essays written by Sichuan University students in a graduate writing course. Previous articles have addressed their attitudes toward the elderly<\/a>, marriage<\/a>, the wealth gap<\/a> and America<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

I want to end this series of essays on a hopeful note. On the surface, Chinese attitudes towards homosexuality may not seem the obvious place to do this. Although the religious rationale that exists in America for hostility towards homosexuality is not present in China, the societal pressure to continue the family line provides an equally strong cultural argument against tolerance towards the gay lifestyle. The one-child policy has only exacerbated this ideology, since a single gay offspring can potentially condemn an esteemed lineage to extinction.<\/p>\n

So it came as an incredible surprise to me as a Peace Corps volunteer to discover that my students\u2019 attitudes towards homosexuality veered wildly from the cultural consensus.<\/p>\n

Films & Influence<\/h2>\n
\"Brokeback
Promo imagery for Brokeback Mountain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Every semester I would survey my classes on a variety of social issues in order to see how they compared to their American counterparts. For each of the four semesters that I taught, roughly three-quarters of my Chinese students agreed with the statement that gays should be allowed to marry or provided with rights equivalent to marriage. When I pushed my students for the rationale behind their beliefs, a strangely similar but oddly reassuring answer kept emerging: the American film Brokeback Mountain (or as they called it, Broken Back Mountain).<\/p>\n

I love movies, and this response reinforced the power of the medium in my mind. This powerful love story (directed by Taiwanese-born Ang Lee) had convinced many of my students that society should find a way to allow people who love each other to find happiness, regardless of their sexual orientation.<\/p>\n

Teaching graduate students at Sichuan University several years later, I put forth the issue of gay marriage as a possible paper topic and, not surprisingly, the half dozen students who took up the challenge all argued on behalf of equal rights in this area. But it was not only on homosexuality that students demonstrated an open mindset. Essays supported everything from group sex, to watching pornography at home, to ending the cultural obsession with female virginity before marriage.<\/p>\n

Their outlook made my college students back in the States look incredibly conservative by comparison. Of course, since I taught in Utah and three-quarters of my students were Mormon, this is not as radical as it might sound.<\/p>\n

Authorities Weigh In<\/h2>\n
\"Li
Li Yinhe, sexologist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In these attitudes, they echoed many of the ideas of China\u2019s most famous and perhaps only sexologist: Li Yinhe. Among other things, Li argues in support of the decriminalization of orgies and prostitution, the repeal of laws against adultery and the right of homosexuals to marry. She has gone so far as to introduce several resolutions on the last issue to the Chinese People Political Consultative Conference \u2014 a proposal that admittedly has as much chance as passing as does the one for a National Dalai Lama Day.<\/p>\n

In any case, the papers did a thorough job of laying out persuasive arguments and rebutting the usual objections, doing both with invariably Chinese characteristics. So not only was the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights appealed to but also Article 33\u00a0of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, which \u201cstipulates that \u2018All citizens of the People\u2019s Republic of China are equal before the law\u2019 and that \u2018the state respects and protects human rights\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hence a \u201cban of same-sex marriage violates the constitutional principle of equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreover the current situation with respect to gay marriage was seen as a source of human misery. Not only does denying someone the right to spend their life with the person they love deprive happiness to the 3% of the population that is gay.<\/p>\n

In addition, since 90% of China\u2019s estimated 20 million homosexuals marry someone of the opposite sex,\u00a0\u201cthe spouses of homosexuals live with people who do not love them; consequently they suffer great pressure mentally and physically, and are not well respected.\u201d\u00a0If equality and human happiness were not enough of a rationale, it was pointed out that \u201csame-sex marriage can help to relieve the stress of population in China without threatening the sustainable development of the population.\u201d\u00a0Finally, even the concern about ending the family line can be overcome through the process of adoption since \u201cthere is no shortage of orphans in China.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marriage & Tradition<\/h2>\n
\"Gay
A woman spies on a pair of male lovers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To those who argue that homosexual marriage goes against traditional Chinese values it was politely pointed out that \u201cthe current marriage system in China can be said to violate traditional values, \u201csince neither monogamy nor a concern for women\u2019s rights were part of traditional Chinese marriage.” Indeed, \u201cif the traditional institution of marriage stayed the same without any change, there would still be child brides and polygamy in China, and people would marry someone they\u2019ve never seen before, and women could have neither the right to apply for divorce nor an opportunity to remarry upon the death of their spouse.\u201d<\/p>\n

But just as \u201cwith the development of society and people\u2019s idea of humanity, people in China gradually began to notice the rights of one disadvantaged group, women\u201d so it is not only logical but inevitable that homosexuals, another disadvantaged group, will have their rights, including the right to marriage, ultimately recognized.<\/p>\n

The reasoning is persuasive. Indeed, in something like a satori moment shortly after reading the papers I realized I can no longer include the topic of gay marriage on my list of possible essays since I require that there be a coherent argument on the other side of every issue we cover, and gay marriage no longer fits into this category (although, oddly, marriage itself does). I still recognize that the support of gay marriage remains a minority position in China. But if the papers are any indicator \u2014 and I believe that they are \u2014 a generational change, much as what has happened in the United States, is on the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While on the surface China appears to be sternly against equality for it’s gay population, there are emerging signs of hope.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22993,"featured_media":7545,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[159],"yoast_head":"\nHope on the Horizon for Gays in China - Chengdu Living<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While on the surface China appears to be sternly against equality for it's gay population, there are emerging signs of hope.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/hope-for-gays-in-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hope on the Horizon for Gays in China - Chengdu Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While on the surface China appears to be sternly against equality for it's gay population, there are emerging signs of hope.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/hope-for-gays-in-china\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Chengdu Living\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-20T09:25:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-02-20T10:09:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/gay-thumb2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Vernezze\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Vernezze\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/hope-for-gays-in-china\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/hope-for-gays-in-china\/\",\"name\":\"Hope on the Horizon for Gays in China - Chengdu Living\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-20T09:25:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-20T10:09:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e6c50f0d753b8e215cdb3b35a9f0a71a\"},\"description\":\"While on the surface China appears to be sternly against equality for it's gay population, there are emerging signs of hope.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/hope-for-gays-in-china\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/hope-for-gays-in-china\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/hope-for-gays-in-china\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Hope on the Horizon for Gays in China\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/\",\"name\":\"Chengdu Living\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/#\/schema\/person\/e6c50f0d753b8e215cdb3b35a9f0a71a\",\"name\":\"Peter Vernezze\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.chengduliving.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"caption\":\"Peter Vernezze\"},\"description\":\"Peter Vernezze came to Chengdu in 2006 and is an educational consultant, philosophical counselor and academic. 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