BEIJING (AP) - Police have arrested 37 gay men in southern China at the start of a nationwide anti-vice campaign, a rights group and police official said Friday. The arrests Monday at a gymnasium in Guangzhou city were the largest detention sweep against homosexuality yet in China, the official said by telephone from the city, a thriving provincial capital near Hong Kong.
Homosexuality is illegal in China, although a relaxation of social rules over the past 20 years has created a more tolerant atmosphere. Gay bars are common and some cities have gay information telephone hotlines. The owner and manager of the Heroes’ Gym will face criminal charges, but the other men might be released, said the police official, who would not give his name.
Matt sighs, crosses another one off his list of vacation destinations, and gets ready for the letter-writing action alert from Amnesty International’s gay section
Why yes, Eve, it seems that they would prefer to bite you. Rather than, say, Matt or me.
It sucks, but it’s nothing new. Perhaps in another twenty years China will be ready for their own Stonewall, but gays are almost as reviled in Asia as in the Middle East.
Time for another letter to my federal representatives. I would suggest everyone else do the same, but not everyone enjoys tilting at fiscal windmills as much as I.
Depressing, but not surprising. When I was there four years ago, the gay scene in Beijing was hush-hush, and gay bars very difficult to find. Gay men from Western nations should be grateful we live in comparatively enlightened countries. In some countries, particularly in the Middle East, homo- sexuals can be jailed or executed.
Even in modern countries like Korea and Japan, being outed as a homosexual can have devastating personal repercussions,i.e., getting disowned by family and friends, losing your job, getting evicted from your apartment.
Matt sighs, crosses another one off his list of vacation destinations, and gets ready for the letter-writing action alert from Amnesty International’s gay section
Didn’t the One-child-only policy collide with the traditional gender-bias and result in infanticide of female babies? I remember reading about this. Wouldn’t this shortage of females make homosexuality the only outlet for the glut of Chineses males? If this is true, the Chinese government created the very situation they now persecute.
You’re right, dive, but I think there are other factors in addition to communism (read: totalitarianism). Hispanic culture, with its emphasis on machismo, has always been hard on los maricónes (NPI). The government makes it possible to sanction mass action against gays, blacks, etc., but I don’t see it as exclusive to communism. Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Feudal Europe.
China will slowly but surely step out of the dark ages, as they interact more and more with the Western nations. However, I think they will inflict much more pain on their citizens before any new freedoms are won. The power still belongs to a relatively small group of military men, and they will not let go without a tremendous struggle. Sad.
What Slithy said - An Economist article not too long ago predicted that when the current crop of infants reaches maturity there will be 1 woman for every 10 men.
1 boy who will marry the 1 girl and have only 1 boy child, 9 boys who will become angry gay soldiers.
When will that be? When did the one child rule take effect? And if they’re trying to cut down on overpopulation, why are they discouraging homosexuality?
I don’t see an action on it for the China case yet, but here is a link to Amnesty International’s group (in the USA country section) that deals with human rights issues relating to sexual identity.
Ryan, China’s One Child Policy started in 1979. At first it was limited to ethnic Han Chinese in urban areas, but then it spread to rural areas and now they are trying to start implementing it in Hong Kong. Clearly the government understands the need to fight overpopulation, but the methods they use (fines, forced abortions and sterilizations, threats) are a bit suspect. Chinese culture places a huge importance on having a male heir, who will support his parents in their old age (unlike a female child, who will be married off and help her husband take care of his parents). The One Child Policy + desirability of a boy = abortion and infanticide of female babies.
As for why the government discourages homosexuality, it’s a pretty common practice for totalitarian regimes. Gay people are considered “deviant” or “different” which makes them “dangerous.” It’s not like they’ve made some kind of rational link between overpopulation and homosexuality.
Here’s the Economist article. It’s not as drastic as 1 girl for every 10 boys. Apologize for the length of this post, but article is a good read.
**6.3 brides for seven brothers**
China|population, ratio of males to females; Population|China, ratio of males to females
DATE 19-Dec-98
WORDS 2645
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