Can you be gay onle Cha? Social media pani aren't sure | CNN Bs

Contents:

• BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG
• CAN YOU BE GAY ONLE CHA? SOCIAL MEDIA PANI AREN’T SURE
• CHA’S TOP 10 GAYT CI
• IT’S ACTUALLY OK TO BE GAY CHA ONLE—JT DON’T ASK FOR EQUAL RIGHTS IRL

BEG GAY CHA HAS GOTTEN HARR UNR XI JPG

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. First, here are your headl: This week’s top stori:Up NextBeg Gay Cha Has Gotten Harr Unr Xi Jpg. “This is a dark day for , and I don’t know if there’s anythg I uld do other than reachg out to my iends and fortg them, ” Kev, a gay man Chengdu, told Al Jazeera, after hearg the news.

From time to time, the ernment has equated homosexualy wh vlence and obsceny, censored pictns on televisn and allowed books to refer to homosexualy as a kd of mental illns. Cha’s more nservative forc have often exhibed a vehement hatred towards homosexualy or genr nonnformy for an alleged “agenda to stroy tradnal valu, ” acrdg to some vol opponents of the movement, cludg some that brand themselv as science wrers such as Vacce and Science, an acunt wh more than five ln followers.

CAN YOU BE GAY ONLE CHA? SOCIAL MEDIA PANI AREN’T SURE

A report on Cha’s LGBTIQ movement published this month by ILGA Asia, the regnal arm of the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, found “limed visibily of LGBTIQ issu social media and onle activism is a vulnerable state due to strict censorship by the thorarian ernment. On social media, for example, stead of beg lled “upl” or “boyiends, ” same-sex partners are scribed as “roommat” to liberately make the “gayns” ls visible. “This is [the ernment’s] implic tactic of cludg homosexualy to the heteronormative narrative, th riddg the LGBT group of their polil voice, ” wrote one WeChat er.

ILGA says that spe the “bleak scenar” there rema “opportuni” particularly areas of vlence and discrimatn agast the gay muny and legal rights advocy. LGBTQIA+ travellers are those who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (a more clive LGBT ialism), pl queer or qutng, tersex or asexual dividuals, as well as those who intify beyond the monly ed sexualy and genr exprsns.

Although there are many stanc of gay relatnships and queer art and lerature spread throughout Cha’s long rerd history, LGBTQIA+ intifyg people Cha do not receive the same legal protectns or rights than heterosexual and/or cis-genr populatns. The ernment heavily censors portrayals of same-sex relatnships and, up until 2001, homosexualy was nsired a mental illns. Through the dynasti, homosexual relatnships were treated wh difference, but wh global and Soviet fluenc to the 20th century, laws were put place to ban same-sex relatnships.

CHA’S TOP 10 GAYT CI

Che people are generally tolerant and homophobic-related vlence is credibly rare. There are small but energised gay scen Beijg, Shanghai and Hong Kong; however, public displays and pri events do not ually have a place Cha, due to thori keepg a lid on any form of public monstratns.

IT’S ACTUALLY OK TO BE GAY CHA ONLE—JT DON’T ASK FOR EQUAL RIGHTS IRL

Your bt bet is to head to the French Concsn area of town, where gay bars like Happs 42 and Lollipop are heavg, pecially on a weekend.

In many ways, was a repeat of what happened last year, when Weibo lnched a mpaign to “clean up” the platform, cludg the removal of all gay-themed rtoons and vios — along wh pornographic and vlent material — to ply wh Che laws and regulatns. While the Che ernment has stepped up rtrictns on the untry’s LGBT muny recent months, there has been no official directive — yet — that anythg to do wh gay or lbian issu should be censored.