Gay Movement: China Catching Up Despite Legal Challenges

China is rapidly being stripped of its traditional image with gay movement gaining ground in its cities and provinces. While the loudest concentration of gay movement used to center in Beijing and Shanghai, the rest of China is catching up despite legal challenges and limitations.

A Battle Waged In China

ABC News reports that a battle between Changsha court and the province's local gay movement is currently being waged over limitation of marriages rights to heterosexual couples. Despite a failed lawsuit against the civil affairs bureau over this perceived discrimination, LGBT groups and individual supporters believe they have gained stronger ground in the country.

The fact that an actual lawsuit over this issue was processed and heard is seen as a victory for both local and national gay movement in China. According to the media agency LGBT activists do not expect victory in such legal battles just yet.

Gay Movement Fight For Recognition

The gay movement simply fights to be recognized and taken seriously as the opposing side in a legal argument in China. The Washington Post reports that a case on transgender discrimination in the workplace is scheduled to be given a ruling in the Guizhou province.

Gay conversion treatments, which provides shock treatments to a homosexual, were declared illegal by a Chinese court in 2014. Attention is heavy on this specific LGBT case.

For now, exposure for the gay movement in China is valuable among Chinese LGBT activists. Beijing-based lawyer Gou Gou, who is a member of the Rainbow Lawyers network sees the case as platform to open the eyes of LGBT individuals to their rights in China.

The Future Of Gay Movement In China

"The bigger significance of this case is that it will let more people know about their rights," Gou Gou said. "But young people are the most passionate, this will hopefully direct them to become more involved with the right training."

The Washington Post points out that Chinese law does not have provisions for gender-based and sexuality-based discrimination. However, gay movement advocates and legal practitioners have managed to bring these cases to court and coax media coverage in China.