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.
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. * 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.
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.
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 *
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.
CHA GAY RIGHTS
A more assertive, self-reliant Cha has rulted a subtle but nstant narrowg of gay spac * china gay magazine *
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.
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 *
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.
” 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.
* china gay magazine *
-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.