Why China’s gays and lesbians are still stuck in the closet
While Taiwan’s LGBT community has cheered a ruling in favour of same-sex marriage, their mainland counterparts are struggling just to be accepted by their loved ones and the authorities
Thirty-seven-year-old Chinese teacher Dongcheng leads a double life. To his colleagues, pupils and most of his relatives, he is happily married to the woman of his dreams. The couple held an elaborate wedding ceremony back in his hometown in eastern Shandong province when they got married in 2010. But to his closest friends and family members, Dongcheng’s real life partner is in fact a man, a designer in his 40s, with whom he has been living for more than a decade. The woman he married, a 34-year-old barista, is actually lesbian, and they live separately in Wuhan, central Hubei province, meeting up as friends only occasionally.
“I dare not come out of the closet at school because I am a teacher,” Dongcheng (not his real name) told the South China Morning Post from his home in Wuhan, where he teaches painting at a high school.
“If I tell other teachers and my pupils that I am gay, my pupils will tell their parents. Their parents will then demand to have their children leave my class and join other classes instead. Most parents have a misconception about gay people. I won’t have a chance to explain to them. [Coming out of the closet] will probably bring trouble to my school.
“I feel sorry for my partner because I can’t hold his hand in public and [unlike straight couples who can bring their spouses] I can’t have him accompany me at gatherings organised by my school.”
Watch: Taiwan rules in favour of gay marriage
Struggle for acceptance
