this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2024
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I lived there for about three years in total from 2013-2020. I'm not Chinese and I'm also
so I hung out with queer Chinese people and went to queer events but felt like a double outsider so I'm not confident in my response...
I'd say queerness is accepted (or at least 'tolerated') in China but not advocated. There's progress in some areas but sliding in others.
cw queerphobia/patsoc
spoiler
(western LGBTQ+ 'pride' is unfortunately sometimes seen as bourgeois decadence... I've seen an uptick in stuff on WeChat and bilibili specifically deriding the west for its collapse with the title/comments 男人守国门，女人守血脉 Men protect the country, women protect the bloodline'). This extends to a dislike for the 'soft' idol culture of 娘炮 'sissy' men from south korea and japan, based on China's historical and recent animosity. The french Olympics opening ceremony was a huge flashpoint for that, same as it was here)I'm not in the country right now so I can't say if this has translated into the lives of queer comrades being harder over there (I would be surprised if it hadn't, but, not sure to what degree)
China's also a huge place so, while Shanghai and Beijing may have prominent gay bars, clubs and districts, a third-tier or smaller city may have just a bar in a given district that's known to the locals as 'that place'. A lot of young queer people will be closeted until university or they start working, and move out of the home and to a different city, even a different province or across the country (and the country js huge). During this time, it's kinda their window to be themselves, until they graduate or get to their late 20s when there's an expectation from parents/grandparents that they pull their head in and have child(ren).
Despite the above, there are still people who have a live and let live mentality, which I'd say is pretty common. China's a huge place with lots of people living different kinds of lives, it's surprisingly tolerant in a kind of way that people can just do their own thing.
I maintain that capitalist imperialism is using rainbow capitalism as part of a larger effort to scapegoat the failings of capitalism onto minority groups.
Frighteningly I think it's working to a significant extent.