LGBT in China

Raul Ariano, China

The LGBT community has been discriminated since 1979 when China’s communist party criminalized “hooliganism”. In 1997, the Chinese government abolished the crime of “hooliganism,” a term that included homosexual activities. In 2001, homosexuality was removed from its list of psychiatric disorders, yet the LGBT community still feel stigmatized. As Chinese families are quite traditional, most people avoid coming out with their parents or relatives, afraid of becoming the underdog. Moreover, the one child policy has heightened parents‘ desire of raising a child who meets all the expectations, including that of providing grandchildren. Sometimes this takes on the character of an obsession and increases pressure on LGBT children to conform to a heterosexual lifestyle in order to give birth.

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