Jack Kapac, Culture/Communy/Race: Che Gay Men and the Polics of Inty, Anthropologi, Vol. 40, No. 2 (1998), pp. 169-181
Contents:
- GAY EMPERORS CHE HISTORY
- FOUR YEARS, TWO NTENTS: A GAY CHE UPLE'S JOURNEY FOR A SURROGATE SON
- THE GAY ASIAN ACTIVIST WHOSE THEORI ON SEXUALY WERE DES AHEAD OF THEIR TIME
GAY EMPERORS CHE HISTORY
Li and Xu fell love a untry where gay marriage and surrogacy are illegal. Their stggle – and succs – is part of a growg trend<br> * chinese gay history *
The historian Bret Hsch asserts Passns of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradn Cha that all ten emperors who led over the first two centuri of the Han dynasty were “openly bisexual, ” wh Ai beg the tenth. Gil, wrg the Journal of Sex Rearch, Cha had “a long history of dynastic homosexualy” before the Revolutn of 1949, wh “urtly love among lers and subjects of the same sex beg elevated to noble virtu.
” He says that the survivg lerature om that time perd Cha “dit that homosexualy was accepted by the royal urts and s ctom wispread among the nobily. While the de later turned on Mizi Xia, this vigte led to both “the bten peach” and “Mizi Xia” beg tchphras referrg to gay love Che. While Europe’s Christiany promoted homophobia (along wh sexism and racism), much of the rt of the world celebrated a diversy of ways to love, to prent genr, and to have sex prelonial tim.
FOUR YEARS, TWO NTENTS: A GAY CHE UPLE'S JOURNEY FOR A SURROGATE SON
In the 1930s, Li Shiu Tong's boyiend, Magn Hirschfeld, was a proment fenr of gay people. But Li's own rearch has long been overlooked * chinese gay history *
Even the ancient perd, we see men who mataed a heterosexual marriage and a homosexual romance whout apparently seeg any ntradictn between the two. Durg the Song dynasty there was the popular redisvery of a sixth-century Indian Buddhist text that nmned homosexualy. Later there were the dranian law s imposed on Cha by the Mongols and the Manch, which ma homosexualy and certa other forms of extramaral sex ser crimal offens.
Homosexualy Che tradnal philosophy and relignDpe mon misnceptns, Cha has always been morately open towards LGBTQ+ people.
There is no real evince of homosexualy terdictn Taoism, and homosexualy is generally not nsired a crime or immoral. LGBTQ+ Cha’s ancient historyThere is plenty of evince of homosexualy havg existed throughout the history of the Middle Kgdom. Ined, homosexualy was mon practice wh many dynasti until Wtern culture me to fluence Che language ed to scribe homosexualy was much more poetic than the exprsns borrowed om the wtern psychiatric language; referred to stori that happened between emperors and their favor The Passn of the Cut Sleeve (Dynasty Han, emperor Ai ti) and The Bten Peach (Dynasty Zhou).
THE GAY ASIAN ACTIVIST WHOSE THEORI ON SEXUALY WERE DES AHEAD OF THEIR TIME
Ever sce s elimatn om the list of mental illns 2001, and crimalizatn 1997, homosexualy Cha ntu to be at the foreont of Cha’s growg human rights bate. The timated 40 ln lbian, gay, bisexual... * chinese gay history *
The Passn of The Cut Sleeve refers to a story of the emperor Ai Ti om the Han dynasty, when Ai Ti was rtg his male lover's arms he wished not to wake him up, so he cut his own sleeve to liberate his arm om beneath his beloved 'favore' the Qg dynasty poets produced texts about homosexualy, (Dream on the red Chamber /红楼梦, o xueq, 18th C) – Kangyouwei/康有为(1858-1927), which promoted women’s emancipatn and suggted a homosexual marriage ntract.
Mao’s eraHomosexualy was also forbidn durg Mao's era, and was outlawed as part of the Hooligan law the crimal . The reference to hooliganism om Marx and Engels who refers to homosexual men as hooligans (Mann, S, 2011). Mao's key philosophy on homosexualy rted on nyg the existence of homosexualy, and was classified as a “bad element” along wh landlords, rich peasants, unterrevolutnary etc.
* chinese gay history *
Durg this era, until the late 1990’, Cha sent homosexuals to psychiatric hospals to be cured g barbarian methods like electroshock therapy. Then unr Deng Xiaopg amid Cha’s great openg to the liberal market, homosexualy was associated wh negativ notns: such as dgs, alhol and robbery. New valu and posivy toward homosexualy ChaIn the morn era of Cha's posive thoughts toward homosexualy two dat are important: 1997 when homosexualy was crimalized and sodomy was removed om Cha's crimal ; and 2001 when homosexualy was whdrawn om the psychiatric illns Cha is slowly beg a more tolerant of homosexualy.
A great example of Cha's changg attus towards LGBTQ+ brights was how the media reacted to famo actrs and member of a Christian radil sect, Lu Lipg, after scribg homosexuals as “shameful” and “sners”. The prs om all over Cha fend homosexual rights and even Cha's CCTV lled for peace and rpect towards the LGBTQ+ recent years, the Che ernment has also started to take AIDS and LGBTQ-related health matters more serly to prerve the health of gay men.
A 1998 survey nducted by the soclogist Li Yhe suggts that 90% of Che people agree that homosexuals should have the same rights as heterosexuals. In 2010, Cha weled the Se4gay photograph mpaign wh heterosexual and even the Buddhist Monks supportg homosexuals. Yet, spe Cha crimalizg homosexualy 1997 and removg om an official list of psychiatric disorrs 2001, discrimatn persists employment, health re and other areas, and many rema reluctant to e out to their challeng ntemporary ChaEven though thgs are slowly improvg for the LGBTQ+ muny Cha, tradnal fay and social prsur are still very prent.