one thing most any leftist will say about china despite supporting the country is that they’re a very traditionalist culture, and so LGBTQ issues in particular are a blight on leftist westerner’s otherwise positive view of china.
upon scrolling thru rednote, i think that’s bullshit now. i really don’t think you’re worse off being LGBTQ in china than you are in america. yeah, you can’t get married, but that right is under constant threat of being taken away in the US anyway and let’s be real- it probably will be taken away. meanwhile, china is making progress on that front, the US wants to regress.
i saw multiple LGBTQ people on rednote. i saw a lesbian couple, one of the girls even said “LGBT is completely normal in china now, especially in the cities. even the older generations who might not accept it mind their own business”. can that be said about america? how many queer people here have been accosted by some boomer who couldn’t mind their own business? i saw the gayest fucking dude i’ve ever seen in my life (that’s a compliment). he was also wearing makeup and sassily singing along with destiny’s child. completely comfortable in his skin and with his identity, and while all of the comments and his speaking were in mandarin that i couldn’t understand, you can tell by the vibe it was all positive. meanwhile in progressive america, if you’re a guy who wants to put on makeup and go live on tiktok you’re gonna face all sorts of homophobia and bigotry.
one of the few things western liberals could really say about china, that even those of us who are left wing and pro china thought to be at least somewhat true, appears to just straight up not be true.
I saw an independent poll from China once that I wished I’d saved which highlighted the nuance of the issue and the bullshit nature of polls. So grain of salt, this is my rough memory.
It had a question like “what is your opinion on homosexuality?” Slim majority negative
“What is your opinion of homosexuality in people you don’t know” overwhelmingly answered “none of my business”
“Would you be happy if your child was homosexual?” Large majority no.
But here’s the kicker there was a question “would you prefer your child be single, childless and heterosexual or married, have children and homosexual?” Overwhelmingly the latter option.
Like even if there’s homophobia it has different material roots and manifestations than it does in the west.
Chinese homophobia is rooted in the gay couple not being able to sire children. It isn’t similar to Abrahamic homophobia at all. They easily chose the second option because to be childless is to be an outcast while to have children is to be a full member of Chinese society. They probably would choose the second option even if their kid is married but the couple has undergone sterilization because they don’t want kids.
i can confirm this, i know a trans woman who was pressured into getting with a cis lesbian by family so they could have kids. they didnt care that it looked gay they just wanted kids, and the assumption with most gay relationships is there will be no children. many families dont even care if theyre adopted its all about growing the family for their very frequent gatherings. lesbian relationships are generally more accepted because of things like IVF and sperm donors.
also the secret to finding trans women on most chinese social media is to search for the fishcake swirl emoji https://emojipedia.org/fish-cake-with-swirl
Ah, I see the trans Debian user stereotype transcends borders and languages.
Kind of misguided and wrong, but also wholesome in a way… Trans acceptance with Chinese characteristics? 🤷♀️
Also, the swirl cake things is adorable, figures that those would be one of my favorite things in ramen lol.
Makes me wonder what life is like for aro-ace people in China.
Not ideal
very interesting post, thanks
For the married part, did they mean “in a heterosexual marriage but homosexual “? Since from my understanding homosexual marriages aren’t legal in China?
There’s civil unions, so it probably means “longterm live-in partnership that’s mostly like a marriage in practice”
Sorry I’m going from memory it might have been partnered or something else not explicitly married. Meaning in a long term monogamous homosexual relationship with kids.