Xiao Cao, a 57-year-old gay man, performs as a cultural revolutn red guard at a park.
Contents:
- BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG
- A GAY MAN CHA
- THE DOUBLE LIV OF GAY MEN CHA’S HAAN PROVCE
- FOR CHA’S GAY MEN, DONGDAN PARK BEIJG OFFERS HAVEN
- THE HIDN LIV OF GAY MEN CHA
- FOUR YEARS, TWO NTENTS: A GAY CHE UPLE'S JOURNEY FOR A SURROGATE SON
BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG
A more assertive, self-reliant Cha has rulted a subtle but nstant narrowg of gay spac * gay man in china *
A more assertive, self-reliant Cha has rulted a subtle but nstant narrowg of gay spacPhotographer: GREG BAKER/AFPHello, I’m Colum Murphy, a reporter on our Cha ernment team based Beijg, wh a look at the steady erosn of gay life Cha.
A GAY MAN CHA
Gay men margal provc like Haan are claimg spac and buildg muni their own secret worlds. * gay man in china *
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. Inspired by those experienc, for the past eight years, I have been rryg out rearch wh gay men the regn and, 2018, pleted a PhD this explorg gay liv Haan. I wanted to fd out how gay liv are lived on the margs of global LGBT polics and activism, away om ci imaged as smopolan centr of morny.
My rearch explor how gay men Haan unrstand themselv, build muni and negotiate the prsur to nform to the heterosexual life script of marriage and reproductn. I looked to how gay liv are figured out everyday teractns, how they are shaped by the spac which they unfold and how this plays out over time. “When we get there, don’t say any gay stuff, ” Ah Tao warns me as we approach a shop the cut-out rner of a buildg at an tersectn wh an even narrower alley.
THE DOUBLE LIV OF GAY MEN CHA’S HAAN PROVCE
* gay man in china *
When I first beme volved gay muni Haan back 2009, I was taken by iends to the sole gay bar Haikou, the provcial pal. In the island’s biggt ci, Haikou and Sanya, there are gay bars and tablished cisg areas certa parks, centrally loted yet variably beyond the view of the wir public. 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. In the spac, fears of beg “outed” and the possible damage this uld do to fay and profsnal relatnships, mean that, as I was warned by Ah Tao, is bt not to “say any gay stuff”.
Careful regulatn of the language and knowledge that is allowed to circulate the spac ensur that gay men are only visible as gay men to one another.
FOR CHA’S GAY MEN, DONGDAN PARK BEIJG OFFERS HAVEN
Cha's gay men, stgglg wh stigma and social prsure to marry women and have children, pe to Beijg's Dongdan Park. * gay man in china *
Yet, the time spent the spac is marked by anxieti that, at any moment, cracks might appear the barrier between parallel gay and straight worlds. In distct ways, gay spac Haan’s ci and towns are characterised by juxtaposns of visibily and visibily, centraly and margaly, prence and absence.
Concealed om the heterosexual worlds of fay, work and general public life, gay liv, inti and muni are joyo and affirmg. Yet, there is ltle sire among gay men for public visibily and ltle tert overall livg gay liv beyond the hidn worlds. Still standg that nvenience store Jiaji, a gay meetg place visible pla sight, Ah Tao has jt told me that all the men here are gay.
Sensg her spicn, Ah Tao says his goodby and we move on wh our tour of the Jiaji gay scene, visg a teahoe before returng to the park. Jt as gay spac Haan exist as cracks an otherwise heterosexual public sphere, so too do the time that gay men dite to socialisg gay muni. But they are also a nstant prence everyday life, terptg moments of gay life – like the mundane and aggrsive remr Ah Tao received that he had “no wife, no children”.
THE HIDN LIV OF GAY MEN CHA
A lawsu brought by a stunt is part of an effort to get schools, edors and publishers to regnize that beg gay is not a mental disorr. * gay man in china *
In the face of such prsur, many gay men Haan take much pleasure om their social and sexual relatnships wh other men and their sens of belongg to gay muni. 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. The thgs that make me happy are the gay iends that I’ve ma … we have a lot to talk about and we belong to the same scene, we’re all homosexuals.
FOUR YEARS, TWO NTENTS: A GAY CHE UPLE'S JOURNEY FOR A SURROGATE SON
Queer In The World: a bold LGBT travel hub, enrichg journeys wh gay-iendly stays, nightlife & events while nnectg the rabow fay through pop culture. * gay man in china *
Ensurg the ntuy of the fay le is generally nsired the specific rponsibily of sons and is therefore an acute prsure for gay men. 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.
Organised activism has arrived Haan too, wh the tablishment of a regnal branch of the Parents and Friends of Lbians and Gays Cha 2016. But this may signal at least some tert challengg the stat quo and the potential for future chang to gay liv Haan through greater public visibily and engagement wh activism. Whatever forms sexual polics and activism take Haan, close attentn should be paid to the ncerns and sir of gay men, lbians and other margalised genr and sexual groups.
It may sound over the top but as I reflect on my time wh Ah Tao – and all I have learned om gay men Haan – I fd myself ntemplatg the meang of life. The experienc of gay men Haan show how liv are shaped by the spac and tim that are available for livg particular ways. 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.