For Cha's gay men, Dongdan Park Beijg offers haven - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG
• A GAY MAN CHA
• FOR CHA’S GAY MEN, DONGDAN PARK BEIJG OFFERS HAVEN
• FOUR YEARS, TWO NTENTS: A GAY CHE UPLE'S JOURNEY FOR A SURROGATE SON
• THE HIDN LIV OF GAY MEN CHA
• CHA’S TOP 10 GAYT CI
• UNRSTANDG CHE GAY MEN’S AND LBIANS’ EXPERIENC OF COPG WH THE PRSURE TO MARRY OM THE LENS OF SUZHI DISURSE

BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG

Durg this year’s Pri Month, soccer star Li Yg ma history as Cha’s first female athlete to e out publicly as gay, a ndid seri of celebratory photos posted on social media, showg her posg happily alongsi her partner.

In years past, June was filled wh LGBTQ (lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer) events major ci such as Shanghai and Beijg, durg which Cha’s sexual mori uld semi-openly celebrate their inty. Some also spect a more direct lk between the crackdown on LGBTQ rights and top officials’ worldviews, which for many were shaped durg the Cultural Revolutn the 1960s and ’70s, when thori attempted to purge any “non-socialist” elements — cludg homosexualy — om Che society. There has been some excellent rearch to the emergence of gay and lbian inti Cha, cludg how the have been shaped by ro-Amerin ias of “gay sensibily” and characterised by “dividualy, difference, sophistitn, liberatn and morny”.

A GAY MAN CHA

One 2018 study tailed gay bars Shanghai that rivalled those of any wtern pal, the anisatn of “pri” events and the tense ntexts which “queer” film ftivals and wir cultural productn and activism occur the face of ntued regulatn by the thorarian state. In Sanya, the well trodn pathways that criss-cross a bamboo grove where the edge of a park meets a riverbank are a by gay meetg spot, while the cy’s gay bar, durg the time of my fieldwork, was aga loted a dised hotel. But they often fear that the ways of livg are unstaable and that they mt eventually leave the gay world and nform to their fai and the wir society’s expectatns that they marry and have children.

This has further entrenched the role of children as necsary rers for their ageg parents and gay men’s perceptns of their futur as oriented towards marriage and reproductn are wrapped up ncerns for self-prervatn.

FOR CHA’S GAY MEN, DONGDAN PARK BEIJG OFFERS HAVEN

The tense social stigma that is attached to viatns om heterosexualy means that public visibily as gay is unsirable, pecially smaller ci and towns where bumpg to an nt, uncle or -worker is a nstant ncern. My Interts My Content Newsletters Watchlist Settgs Acunt Subscriptn Billg Help Center Sign Out Subscribe Markets Enomics Indtri Tech AI Big Tech Cybersecury Startups AI Polics Wealth Pursus Opn Bsweek Equaly Green CyLab Crypto A more assertive, self-reliant Cha has rulted  a subtle but nstant narrowg of gay spacPhotographer: GREG BAKER/AFPFebary 17, 2022 at 7:28 AM ESTHello, I’m Colum Murphy, a reporter on our Cha ernment team based Beijg, wh a look at the steady erosn of gay life Cha. As society Cha morniz, s gay muny is ls myster and creasgly part of the untry’s fabric, pursug dreams and happs like other settg out to document this story, I had a somewhat stereotypil image of gay Che – that they lived lorful and fortable liv, wh proment members often active the fashn and entertament dtri, that they wore exquise cloth and were top physil shape.

Drsg drag is not necsarily a strange phenomenon Cha, as men ually played women’s rol Pekg operas tim gone Cao told me that he realized he was gay when he was around 15 years old, junr high school.

Though same-sex marriage has not been legalized, Che media regularly report on high-profile gay home weddgs and gay upl gettg marriage certifit the Uned for many gay Che, is still difficult to buck social prsure to fd a spoe of the oppose sex and have children.

FOUR YEARS, TWO NTENTS: A GAY CHE UPLE'S JOURNEY FOR A SURROGATE SON

Che media equently portray HIV/AIDS as a “gay disease, ” even though natnal statistics show heterosexual sex was the route of transmissn 66% of new s reported the first 10 months of 2014.

THE HIDN LIV OF GAY MEN CHA

“Superstars don’t want to lose their heterosexual fans, and those polics need a ‘normal’ fay to survive and get promoted, ” said soclogist Li Yhe, a longtime advote for gay rights timat there are 39 ln to 52 ln gay men among Cha’s 1. “Cha needs to have reprentativ for the homosexual muny the Natnal People’s Congrs to brg up proposals of gay marriage for the revisn of the law, ” said knows he’s unlikely to bear wns to such a velopment.

But the appete for queer ntent is jt too big to ignore, a mand that not om gay men, but mostly straight least eight shows adapted om novels wh boys’ love romanc are expected to premiere this year across Cha’s major streamg platforms, cludg Alibaba’s You, Tencent Vio, Mango TV, and iQIYI. ”High risk, high returnsMakg and showg boys’ love dramas Cha is a t-and-moe game between the prof-driven entertament dtry and the homophobic censorship 2016, the h teen seri Addicted (also known as Hero), a drama wh explic gay scen, was pulled om onle streamg platform iQIYI before uld release s last three episos. While Word of Honor was praised for tellg a movg love story, s productn team was reful to avoid explic mentns of homosexualy durg the show’s productn pany ially agreed to talk to VICE about their boys’ love dramas but nceled the terview after learng that the qutns will touch on the homosexualy implied their works.

‘Socialist brotherhood’Knowg viewers jokgly ll homoerotic relatnships the dramas “socialist brotherhood, ” a reference to how on-screen homosexualy has to be disguised as bromanc le wh official state the two protagonists of You’s Word of Honor shared tense kiss the origal novel, producers of the drama adaptatn had to rort to microexprsns and symbolism to nvey the pair’s feelgs for each other.

CHA’S TOP 10 GAYT CI

” While explic mentns of homosexualy are banned, s lns of fans had no problem ferrg sexual tensn between the two leads, om their poetic flirtg and lgerg eye ntact, almost every episo. ”Queerbag for shFor all s appeal to homoeroticism, the boys’ love bs Cha surviv by avoidg any discsn of LGBTQ rights while focg on the physil attractivens of s male characters — a batn amics say has ntributed to the silencg of sexual mori Che society. “By htg at male homoerotic love, the directors and actors are appropriatg the tert of funü and gay life, tryg to turn the to sh and traffic, ” said Ge Liang, a rearcher at Kg’s College London who studi boys’ love lerature Cha.

In 2018, a wrer was sentenced to more than 10 years jail for wrg and sellg a gay porn novel; months later, when the film Bohemian Rhapsody was released Cha, parts pictg Freddie Mercury’s relatnships wh men were unceremonly cut. Gay people Cha have poted out how different boys’ love stori are om their real-life experienc — the characters dramas are often picted as young, urbanized, handsome, and wealthy, and rarely e across the hostily that gay people actually face. Photo: STR / AFPDaniel Hsu, a 31-year-old gay man workg as a teacher Beijg, said while many people enjoy watchg boys’ love dramas, they may not be terted the problems nontg gay people the real world.

UNRSTANDG CHE GAY MEN’S AND LBIANS’ EXPERIENC OF COPG WH THE PRSURE TO MARRY OM THE LENS OF SUZHI DISURSE

Where Che state media often portrays gay men as victims of crime, enemi to tradnal valu, and sourc of social stabily, subtle boys’ love dramas have perhaps bee the bt form of queer reprentatn Cha’s state-sanctned pop culture. Anthony Shen, a 24-year-old gay man Beijg and an avid viewer of boys’ love dramas, said that boys’ love dramas, as subtle as their homoerotic unrton may be, uld lead to wir public acceptance of the LGBTQ muny. The dramas also offer gay people Cha “vir mental satisfactn, ” he said, by seeg their sexualy reprented a reprsive om LGBT Rights Advocy Cha said that while he wished gay actors would be given the opportuny to portray same-sex love on screen, was nohels tertg to see straight men tryg to act gay.

Li and Xu, a gay uple who have been together sce 2007, would walk out of the airport, get married two days later Los Angel, and, more important, start their journey toward 2015 to 2018, Li and Xu ma four transpacific trips as part of their gtatnal surrogacy procs. They traveled nearly 50, 000 , spent more than $200, 000, and went through untls days of distrs, all to fulfill the dream of havg their own creasg number of Che gay men, like Li and Xu, are travelg thoands of and spendg hundreds of thoands of dollars to pursue a dream that is impossible at home. Although this ia is unr fierce attack om some Cha’s younger generatn, still ronat wh many young Che people, cludg some gay men who are asked, or volunteer, to have a child to protect the mianzi of their parents and some of the parents, that means gog as far as phg their sons to the surrogacy journey.