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.
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GAY SPOT/GS = 乐点/点 [PRCHA, 2007-]
* china gay magazine *
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.
BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG
Ma Baoli ed to n his gay liftyle blog secret, but today has morphed to an app wh 63 ln LGBTQ members worldwi. * china gay magazine *
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.
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.
CHA GAY RIGHTS
A more assertive, self-reliant Cha has rulted a subtle but nstant narrowg of gay spac * china gay magazine *
In the early 2000s, Cha’s most famo gay liftyle, health and datg blog was beg n by a police officer. “At the begng, I jt wanted to do somethg for myself and my gay iends, ” Ma tells TIME his Beijg office, ftooned by rabow flags and featurg meetg rooms named after gay lumari like Osr Wil.
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 ? * china gay magazine *
” The succs of Blued unrsr the stris that the LBGTQ+ muny has taken a natn where homosexualy was illegal until 1997 and classified as a mental illns until 2001. While Ma was the police force, the mon perceptn was that beg gay was “perverted, a mental illns, ” he says— was somethg to be “treated” by vasive therapi like electric shocks. Read more: Homophobia Is Not an Asian Value “All discrimatn om ignorance, ” says Ma.
-based gay datg app Grdr after the U. LGBTQ+ rights Cha Cha has publicly voiced s support for gay rights at the U. N., and the lg Che Communist Party has no official doctral opposn to homosexualy, but the untry remas a heteronormative society that strs cis-genred, nuclear-fay valu.
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. * china gay magazine *
In 2017, Cha’s legislature, the Natnal People’s Congrs, allowed same-sex “legal guardianship, ” so that homosexual upl uld make important cisns for each other regardg medil re, property rights, and so on. Even somethg as harmls as the Freddie Mercury bpic, Bohemian Rhapsody, aired Cha wh gay scen excised. He pots out that the shrkg of Cha’s populatn uld be alleviated if gay and lbian upl were allowed to have children through surrogacy.
Havg sons would also allow gay people to plate nservative fai, who would be willg to accept their liftyl as long as they uld still provi an heir.