Four years, two ntents: a gay Che uple's journey for a surrogate son | Parents and parentg | The Guardian

Contents:

• FOUR YEARS, TWO NTENTS: A GAY CHE UPLE'S JOURNEY FOR A SURROGATE SON
• FOR CHA’S GAY MEN, DONGDAN PARK BEIJG OFFERS HAVEN
• GAY M/M CHA - (MOVI & DRAMAS)
• UNRSTANDG CHE GAY MEN’S AND LBIANS’ EXPERIENC OF COPG WH THE PRSURE TO MARRY OM THE LENS OF SUZHI DISURSE
• 10 GREAT GAY FILMS OM EAST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA

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

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”. 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.

Haikou’s current gay bar is accsed by climbg through a wdow on the fifth floor of an ageg tower block, out onto a balny, past a long dried-up swimmg pool and down a stg stairse. 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.

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

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. 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.

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.

GAY M/M CHA - (MOVI & DRAMAS)

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.

Photograph: Courty Quiguang Li and Wei Xu“Enomic velopment Cha … has created a number of middle-class people, cludg those who are homosexual, ” observ Zhijun Hu, who, unr the noted alias “Ah Qiang”, has been workg as an LGBTQ+ activist Cha for more than 20 years. Havg an Amerin baby through surrogacy has now bee a popular and accsible life goal for urban gay men day after they ma through ctoms, Xu and Li went to the HRC Fertily Clic Pasana center for sperm llectn. 885 – for every 1, 000 male newborns, there are only 885 femal – rankg last among all 153 untri US agenci and clics nfirm that gay Che tend parents have a noticeable preference for sons, though some note that they see the same preference across gay men of all wanted a son.

In the Group for Dads of Amerin Babi chat group, they ask qutns about practil thgs like supplements and discs the challeng of parentg, which is still generally viewed as a woman’s duty Zhou, a member of the chat group who is expectg his baby to be born through surrogacy 2020, says that most gay Che parents are particularly eager for rmatn about how to parent. 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. 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.

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

“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. Wh same-sex marriage unregnized, adoptn by gay upl prohibed and surrogacy banned, a majory of this group, she says, would marry women (cludg some lbians, who face a siar stigma). “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.

10 GREAT GAY FILMS OM EAST AND SOUTH-EAST ASIA

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. ” 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.