Well-known female sexologist and LGBT right advocate Li Yinhe admitted in a blog that she has been living with a trans man for many years, someone biologically female but who identifies as a man, and made it clear that does not mean she is a lesbian, a statement that soon triggered wide public discussion.

"I am indeed heterosexual, not homosexual, which is one of the reasons why I married Wang Xiaobo [her late husband and a famous writer] ," wrote Li in her blog on Thursday evening, as a reply to public speculation that Li is homosexual.

Li wrote that after Wang passed away, she met a "very typical" transgender person, who is biologically female but psychologically male.

"Unlike female homosexuals, he is biologically female but has the gender identity of a male. Therefore whom he loves is a heterosexual woman instead of homosexual," read the blog.

The blog then went on to elaborate on the love story between Li and her partner, who have been together for 17 years and have raised an adopted child along the way.

Although Li also attached a statement at the end of the story saying that she meant to imply no superiority of heterosexuality over homosexuality, her words were taken bitterly by many Net users, who called Li a betrayer on her late husband and a liar for "hiding her homosexual identity."

Experts and LGBT activists, however, believed that Li's own love story has groundbreaking effect in pushing forward LGBT rights in China, where social misconception has put transgender people like Li's partner under great pressure.

"I have seen Li with her partner and child. She is not hiding anything. Her partner is certainly a man, although biologically female. What Li did through her words is in line with what she has been preaching as a LGBT rights scholar - to spread the knowledge of transgender people and accept them as who they are," said Ah Qiang, a well-known gay rights activist and founder of Parents, Families, Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) China.

Fewer than homosexual people in number, transgender people in China are under greater pressure from their self-struggle and social prejudice, while social stereotypes tends to confuse homosexuals and transgender, Ah Qiang noted. "Actually, most transgender people are heterosexual."

Peng Xiaohui, a sexologist with the Central China Normal University, told the Global Times that the definition of sexual orientation is based on gender identity instead of biological identity. "Li's words can also send a signal of support for transgender group, many of whom are also forced to go through 'conversion therapy' by even their families," Peng said, emphasizing that being transgender is not a "curable disease."