Cheng He (pseudonym), a 25-year-old gay man, is thinking about coming out of the closet. He is going to tell his mother that he has never been attracted to girls and that he doesn't want to deceive her any more.But he only wants to tell his mother and close friends, not his colleagues. "It's impossible for me to disclose my sexual orientation at the office," he told the Global Times. "I don't think it's necessary and my colleagues would not accept me being gay anyway," he said.

Cheng works at a government-affiliated research center in Beijing. Securing a position in such an institution is similar to working in a government department. People think it guarantees a stable income and a respected social position.

But it can also be a more conservative workplace than in foreign or private companies. It's the kind of place where workers find it difficult to come out of the closet.

A survey of 8,000 gay people around the country conducted by Shanghai-based NGO WorkForLGBT in late 2014 shows that, among those who work for State-owned enterprises (SOEs), only 2 percent of respondents said they have disclosed their sexual orientation to co-workers with whom they are close.

The poll also showed that 9 percent of respondents who work at foreign companies have revealed their homosexuality to their boss and 27 percent have told their colleagues.

Marrying for a better future 

Cheng had a boyfriend who was an employee at a government department in Beijing, but they broke up. "Because he married to a woman," Cheng said. It was so heart-breaking that he could not conceal his sorrow. So he told his family that he "broke up with a girl."

Later Cheng learned that many gay people who work in the government, especially gay men, end up getting married, mostly to lesbians.

In the eyes of many senior officials, having a spouse and children shows that one is a "normal" person and is able to cope with responsibility, Cheng said, and this viewpoint is shared by many other gay people who work at SOEs and government departments.

If you're over 30 and still single, even your boss would ask why and set up some blind dates for you, he said.

Cheng cannot remember how many times he was shown pictures of single girls by his colleagues.

In government agencies, even someone who gets divorced will become the topic of gossips and hearsay will spread across the whole department within two days, said Geng Le, CEO of China's largest gay website danlan.org and the social networking app "Blued."

Geng, 38, was a police officer in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province for nearly 20 years.

Geng realized he was gay not long after graduating from a police academy. He founded the gay community website in 2000 and came out of the closet to his coworkers, friends and family in 2008 after his name repeatedly appeared in the media.

In 2003, when famous Hong Kong singer and movie star Leslie Cheung, who was openly gay, jumped to his death, Geng was shocked and sad. But his colleagues would say "Leslie Cheung is gay! How gross!"

It was then that Geng knew his gay identity would not be accepted. He still stays in touch with some of his former colleagues but others stopped talking to him after he made his sexual orientation public.

Lacking upwards mobility, employees, especially officials, of government agencies and public institutions tend to express more conservative attitudes toward gay people in line with their bosses' views, Chu Ge, a civil servant in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, said, adding that even big news like the US Supreme Court allowing same-sex marriage will not be mentioned often in the office.

Pressure and threats

Mi Tao, 43, a civil servant in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province is one of the few government employees who has publicly come out of the closet. 

He told news portal sina.com.cn that one of his colleagues was also gay and they were quite close because Mi was the only one who knew about his homosexuality.

However, the man was not offered a coveted lifelong contract with his department, because the bosses noticed how close he was with Mi.

For some officials, same-sex love would even make them a target of threats, Ah Qiang, a gay rights activist and founder of PFLAG China based in Guangzhou, told the Global Times. PFLAG stands for "Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays."

In 2012, a man named Wang Xian, 25, told the deputy head of the agricultural bureau in Gaomi county, Shandong Province that a male official raped him repeatedly. Media coverage of the case spread across Weibo.

However, after talking to Wang, Ah Qiang found that the two men were lovers and Wang was blackmailing the official for money. It was revealed that Wang had done similar things several times and had even been sent to prison three times for blackmail.

"Those officials are afraid about the public knowing their sexual orientation," Wang told Ah Qiang. "It's hard for officials because even if the public approves of their orientation, their bosses will not like it, and public understanding alone is not enough," he said.

Slow progress 

Talking about his future job prospects, Cheng is not confident. "If I wanted to be promoted, I would not accept any interviews to talk about homosexuality, even on condition of anonymity," Cheng said.

However, Geng is more optimistic. Before 2012, his website was forced to close many times by local police as the website, which features many pictures of men, "violated social morals." Then he quit his job to focus on the website. Not long after, at an AIDS-prevention meeting in Beijing, he met Premier Li Keqiang, who, Geng said, shook his hands and looked into his eyes when Geng told Li about his website, though Li did not say a word.

After that, Geng said his website has not been closed down any more.

As the owner of an Internet company he still deals with police a lot, and has concluded that Chaoyang district police in Beijing tend to be more open about homosexuality while some local governments in second- and third-tier cities would pretend to not hear him when he talks about his website.
Newspaper headline: Official secret