Ma Baoli ed to n his gay liftyle blog secret, but today has morphed to an app wh 63 ln LGBTQ members worldwi.
Contents:
GAY SPOT/GS = 乐点/点 [PRCHA, 2007-]
Beijg-based GS began as a listgs and liftyle magaze geared toward the gay muny before evolvg to a rpected outlet for mentary and longform journalism, dited to rerdg landmark events for the Che LGBT muny. Twelve years later, amid a tighteng media environment, is the longt-nng queer prt publitn the untry, and believed by many to be the last one standg. * gay china magazine *
Dcribed as the longt-nng queer prt publitn Cha, which "began as a listgs and liftyle magaze, " later "evolvg to a rpected outlet for mentary and longform journalism" (see Dave Y article *SupCha*, October 28, 2019) prented varly as: GS, Gay Spot, Gayspot Magaze, 乐点, 点, and (translerated) Le COPIES ARE ARCHIVED HERE FOR PRESERVATION AND RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY. Beijg-based GS began as a listgs and liftyle magaze geared toward the gay muny before evolvg to a rpected outlet for mentary and longform journalism, dited to rerdg landmark events for the Che LGBT muny.
Many LGBT rearchers Cha believe that, today, GS — short for GaySpot (乐点 lè diǎn) — is not only the longt-survivg queer prt magaze the untry, but also the last remag, even as Cha creasgly clamps down on the visibily of an timated 70 ln queer people. GS, wh s three staff and team of eelancers, is a nonprof started 2007 as a source of event rmatn for the gay muny. Those were the days before gay datg apps like Grdr and s Che equivalent, Blued — and even before mastream social media platforms like WeChat, which has bee dispensable to gathergs.
Sex, nightlife, celebri, film, relatnship advice, photos of buff guys: the were the needs at the time of Che gays seekg the material life, Su says, and ditive of the lax media environment that preced Cha’s current regime. 0” had a penchant for documentg legal s: Cha’s first discrimatn su brought by a transgenr person 2016 as well as a separate su the same year volvg erced stutnalizatn; the first gay nversn therapy su 2017; discrimatn trials won by a gay school teacher and an HIV-posive person 2018; and high-profile suicis dotted throughout. Nowadays, the team only prts about two issu a year and posts a handful of articl a week on s public WeChat acunt (ID: gayspot) to a small but loyal fanbase, each fetchg page views only the low thoands.
BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG
Blued, one of the biggt gay datg apps the world, has succeed bee plays by the ever-shiftg l for L.G.B.T.Q. Cha — brgg together a mory muny whout activism. * gay china magazine *
In parison, Lifehack, another acunt that do gay male nsumer-oriented workout tutorials, sual news, and product reviews, replete wh photos of shirtls guys, celebri, and mem, draws tens of thoands of clicks per article.
Jt the last year or so, Che social media pani scbbed gay, then lbian discsns om s platforms. And November, a proment thor of homoerotic fictn was sentenced to a staggerg 10 years jail for sellg her book, a se that shocked Cha’s fictn muny. “Che gays are such letdowns, ” he said.
Illtratn by Timo LenzenFeatureBlued, one of the biggt gay datg apps the world, has succeed bee plays by the ever-shiftg l for L. Cha — brgg together a mory muny whout by Timo LenzenPublished March 5, 2020Updated March 12, 2020Like many gay Che growg up at the turn of the lennium, Duan Shuai began his long, liberate procs of g out onle.
A more assertive, self-reliant Cha has rulted a subtle but nstant narrowg of gay spac * gay china magazine *
Then he’d go to QQ, the new stant-msagg service and onle fom, and type the Che word for “homosexual” — tongzhi, or ra. Onle, he stumbled to a world where he fally felt he belonged, a place where gay people like himself sought kship and nnectn.
Edison Fan is livg his bt life as an openly gay mol and fluencer Cha – how do the sgle father, bt known for his sexy unrwear shots, do ? * gay china magazine *
To faiarize himself wh Cha’s burgeong gay culture, he listened to the talks by the genr-studi scholar Li Yhe on the popular televisn channel Hunan TV; read “Crystal Boys, ” a novel about gay youth Taipei by the Taiwane wrer Bai Xianyong; and equented onle chat rooms for gay men like Boy Air, BF99, Don’t Cry My Friends and the lol Tianj Cool, where he met his first boyiend, a graduate stunt five years his Duan me of age, so did the Che ter.
Whereas Duan once sought out gay muni small groups and quiet bars, today, as a 33-year-old workg publishg Beijg, he n jo gay meet-ups on WeChat; follow blogs and g-out stori on Weibo, a Twter-like platform; and, perhaps most ccial, he n nnect and fd partners on Blued, a gay social workg app. The pany’s slogan, “He’s Right Next Door, ” embodi s ethos: to brg together gay men om all segments of Che society to one digal esystem. But acrdg to a Uned Natns timate, ls than 5 percent of gay Che choose to e out.
* gay china magazine *
It is easily among the most popular gay datg apps the world. It is a tech pany a society that has been transformed by ee-market reforms, but also a gay tech pany operatg unr a one-party ernment wh an ambiguo stance toward L. Internatnally, Cha has publicly volized s support for gay rights at the Uned Natns, statg that oppos all forms of “discrimatn, vlence and tolerance based on sexual orientatn.