More hope for gay rights in China than the US
- Source: Global Times
- [00:34 November 18 2009]
- Comments
Many gay men have male lovers in their 20s, get married and have a child – and then, very often, go back to having secretive same-sex relationships.
In the US, gay rights have made remarkable strides forward in the last 20 years. But open hatred and attacks on gay men are, if anything, more common in the West.
Christianity plays, sadly, a big part in this. Although Jesus had nothing to say on homosexuality, Deuteronomy and Paul both condemn it.
This has become an obsession for many churches, who are at the forefront of attempts to stop or roll back gay rights in the US and parts of Europe. Gay rights seems to be hitting firm barriers of prejudice which show no sign of shifting.
Combined with this is a tradition of aggressive masculinity that sees gay men as "weak"or "unmanly."
This perpetuates the kind of low-level homophobia of the playground, and online environments where "fag"is the preferred insult.
China doesn't have any of this. Organized religion plays a much smaller part in social life, and "That's so gay"or "You queer"are not thrown around anywhere near as commonly as in the West.
The main barrier remains the importance of the family in Chinese life. But, as Chi-nese moralists often complain, providing grandchildren and pleasing your parents are becoming less important priorites for young people. Adoption and sperm donation also offer other alternatives.
We should be optimistic about the future of gay rights in China. Surveys have shown increasing public acceptance of homosexuality, especially in the cities. People are increasingly accepting that love is love.
Without entrenched traditions of homophobia, gradual pressure from gay activists will meet less resistance. There's no Mormon or Baptist Church here to rally the public against gay marriage, for instance, as happened over "Proposition 8"in California.
Civil reform is a priority for many groups, and so gay rights may seem like a natural part of wider freedoms for everyone.
It might be that in 20 years time or longer, China recognizes gay marriage, while large parts of the US and Europe continue to be stuck in the past.
The author is a copy editor with the Global Times, and author of The Bloody White Baron. (Faber, 2008.)
