Cross-posted from "‘They wanted a name’: how China is hindering LGBT+ events in foreign diplomacy" by @[email protected] in ![email protected]

A diplomatic event disrupted, drag artists detained and questioned, film screenings hindered or cancelled. Several LGBT+ events organised in China by foreign cultural centres or embassies have come under pressure, reflecting a tougher stance by the authorities.

In central Beijing on 28 May, around twenty diplomats are preparing to set off on a run of a few kilometres along the Liangma River. Some are wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan ‘love is love’, whilst others are wearing rainbow-coloured bracelets or earrings. As it has done every year since 2024, the Finnish Embassy is organising a ‘Rainbow Run’ through the streets of the Chinese capital. The event – exclusively for diplomats – is taking place as part of Beijing Diversity Week (25 to 31 May), an initiative of the European Union Delegation in Beijing, with the aim of promoting inclusion and diversity.

However, the day before the event, the Finnish embassy received warnings: one of its diplomats posted in the capital and a local Chinese staff member were contacted. The tone on the phone was threatening. The caller identified himself as a member of the Public Security Bureau (PSB). He warned them that the run was contrary to Chinese culture.

The following day, on the day of the race, participants noticed an unusual police presence around the embassy. Large numbers of police officers were stationed in the area. Barriers blocked access to part of the route. The Chinese authorities demanded that the event be cancelled, citing complaints from parents concerned about the potential impact on their children.

Despite this pressure, around fifteen diplomats set off. Along the route, some were followed by plainclothes police officers and photographed. Others were physically prevented from leaving the embassy for a time. “Even though there was no violence, this constitutes a violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Immunities,” said a European diplomat posted in Beijing. The incident led to the Chinese chargé d’affaires being summoned to Helsinki.

“Detained for nearly 7 hours”

The following day, another incident occurred, this time involving two drag queens who were in China at the invitation of the European Union delegation for Beijing Diversity Week.

“The week had gone rather well so far,” says one of them, the Spanish-British artist Choriza May, a well-known figure on the drag scene. “But on the night of 29–30 May, as we were returning from a night out, I received a call from the hotel reception telling me that the police were downstairs. ”

The two drag queens were taken to a room, questioned and had their passports confiscated. “They held us for nearly seven hours,” says Choriza May. “I was given two options: pay a fine or leave China.”

According to the artist, the authorities cited a visa issue, arguing that their presence in the country did not constitute a tourist activity. A justification she disputes. “I told them we were in China as part of a cultural exchange organised by embassies, and that as such, we were exempt from work visas. They wanted the name of the person who had invited us to a nightclub, but I didn’t have that information.”

According to her account, the police were primarily seeking to identify those who had invited them a few days earlier to ‘Destination’, one of the most renowned gay clubs in the Chinese capital, which had been forced to close suddenly over the weekend following a decision by the authorities.

The two performers were eventually released in the early hours of the morning. In a handwritten letter dictated by the police, they undertook to “refrain from any activity contrary to Chinese law” and to “respect the culture and customs” of the country.

One of the two drag queens, the Belgian Edna Sorgelsen, missed her flight but was able to leave for Hong Kong on 30 May. As for Choriza May, she remained in China for two extra days, as planned, during which she said she felt “constantly under surveillance”.

“Overall, the week was a great success,” said the European diplomat in Beijing, “but this year’s Beijing Diversity Week was also marked by an unusual level of pressure and scrutiny surrounding the most visible expressions of LGBT+ diversity, particularly rainbow symbols and drag performances.”

A sharp increase in pressure

According to European diplomats, these incidents are part of a broader trend of a sharp increase in pressure on foreign cultural centres affiliated with embassies in China – a development not seen since the Covid period – particularly regarding events relating to sexual and gender diversity.

This is because other events organised as part of Pride Month have also come under pressure. On 6 June, the French Institute in Beijing was forced to cancel the screening of two films featuring LGBT+ characters – Enzo de Laurent Cantet, directed by Robin Campillo, and Eat the Night by Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel – after police officers arrived to check the identities of Chinese audience members.

On 10 June, in Guangzhou, another screening organised by the Institut français in collaboration with the Canadian Consulate at the latter’s premises had encountered similar difficulties. The authorities had obtained the list of registered attendees in advance. Some Chinese participants, and even their employers, had been contacted in an attempt to dissuade them from attending the event. At the venue, police officers carried out identity checks and questioned several members of the audience.

At the end of March, the Goethe-Institut had also faced a heavy police presence during screenings organised with the British Council. Around thirty officers, both in uniform and plain clothes, had been deployed around the building. Checks were carried out at the entrance, whilst some police officers had taken up positions in the auditorium to take photographs of the audience.

A narrowing of spaces for freedom

These incidents are causing concern amongst European diplomatic missions, which see them as a sign of a more general hardening of the climate surrounding LGBT+ issues in China.

“We are seeing an increasingly restrictive environment for civil society, community spaces and forms of identity expression that do not fit with the official narrative,” says a diplomatic source.

Homosexuality has not been a criminal offence in China since 1997, and several community spaces do exist. However, LGBT+ social venues remain few and far between and are regularly subject to administrative closures or police pressure.

“There has always been a significant underground community enabling LGBT+ people to meet,” explains Ashley Jiang, creator of the first lesbian dating programme produced by and for a Chinese audience. “But queer people remain largely marginalised, and state control has tightened considerably in recent years. ”

Chinese activists report a collapse of the LGBT+ ecosystem. Online content is censored and groups are regularly shut down as soon as they gain too much visibility. Within universities, LGBT+ societies can no longer be officially registered.

“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to discuss these issues openly or to create spaces for dialogue,” says Ashley Jiang, who now lives in the United States.

“Visibility matters,” emphasises the European diplomat, who assures us that Beijing Diversity Week will return next year. “Seeing artists or people speaking openly about diversity is important. It sends a message: you exist, you are not alone.”

cross-posted from: https://piefed.ca/c/queer_defense_front/p/792027/trump-admin-sues-world-s-leading-trans-medical-group-alleging-financial-blackmail-of-parent

Blued and Finka, two Chinese gay dating apps that were removed from major app stores several months ago, have both recently pushed updates that hide users' sexual role labels (1/0/0.5/side) and profile signatures.

On Blued, users must now navigate to a private chat to view another user's role and signature; filtering by role on the main page is no longer available. The app's official notice describes the change as being "in compliance with regulatory requirements, to better protect the privacy of your social interactions."

Finka has gone further, disabling the role-setting feature entirely. Its update notice states the changes were made "to ensure a better experience for all users and to keep the platform running stably for the long term."

Both apps' main versions remain unavailable on app stores. However, Blued's lite client, "Blued极速版" (Blued Lite), can still be downloaded across major app stores — though the recent changes have triggered a flood of one-star reviews, pushing its rating on the Chinese Apple App Store down to 1.9 at the time of writing.

Users have also reported that profile pictures containing rainbow elements are now flagged as violations on Blued.

According to unverified reports circulating online, China's latest regulatory requirements are pressuring same-sex social apps to "de-label" themselves and rebrand as "ordinary social/dating apps."

Mutual aid networks are stressed and breaking, with no sign the influx of internal refugees is slowing.

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/52526997

The organization behind Hong Kong’s largest annual LGBTQ+ carnival, Pink Dot HK, announced on Monday the cancellation of its scheduled June 14 event. Organizers also canceled last year’s event under similar permitting issues, with LGBTQ+ activists saying that government support for such events has dramatically decreased as mainland China asserts increasing control

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The annual Pink Dot carnival promotes LGBTQ+ diversity and awareness with an event featuring performances and activist talks. However, Pink Dot’s organizers had to cancel last year’s 11th annual event as well, three months beforehand, stating, “We were notified… that the venue could not be rented to us, without any explanation provided.”

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China has been increasingly cracking down on pro-democracy and LGBTQ+ activists in Hong Kong, which has officially operated for decades as one of China’s administrative districts. Under Chinese pressure, Hong Kong passed a 2020 National Security Law, which China claimed would help quell violent civil protests. Fellow human rights activists and international observers say the law is just a way to arrest and silence any of China’s critics.

A 2021 Electoral Reform law made it so that the selection process for Hong Kong’s Legislative Council would ensure only “patriots” — those loyal to the Chinese Communist Party — can hold office, effectively eliminating any political opposition.

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A subsequent 2024 domestic security legislation (Article 23) criminalized most forms of dissent, labeling them as “treason,” “insurrection,” and “subversion.” Legal cases involving national security are now handled by government-appointed judges without juries, leading to sentences favorable to the Chinese one-government policy.

Independent media outlets, investigative journalists, and pro-democracy organizations have begun shuttering in Hong Kong, and LGBTQ+ events have been less frequent. In 2023, Hong Kong’s only dedicated LGBTQ+ radio show, We Are Family, abruptly shut down after 17 years on the air.

Hong Kong hasn’t hosted a pubic Pride march since 2018. Last November, the Hong Kong Pride Committee canceled its outdoor festival at Kwun Tong Promenade after the venue said it was not available.

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Web Archive link

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/52518794

The assault on anything LGBTQ-related in Russia continues. After hundreds of administrative cases and even criminal prosecutions, after bans on support organisations, the police have now filed a report against a 13-year-old schoolboy for “LGBT propaganda” and for displaying extremist symbols. Mediazona discovered the records relating to the case in the Russian court database (we are not disclosing his name or region for safety reasons). It’s illegal to prosecute a someone for this kind of offence at such a young age, so the charges have been dropped. But the boy now faces the risk of being sent to a special school for juvenile offenders.

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Three recent books press us to understand the humanity and lives of gender-expansive athletes.

Archived version here

The landmark case, known as Tickle v Giggle, has been going for years. Today the Federal Court found transgender woman Roxanne Tickle had been discriminated against.

Archived version here

Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Friday that Texas Children’s must also pay $10 million to the state because it illegally provided transgender care to kids.

Archived version here

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/64802899