While being gay and lesbian has been legal in China (and Hong Kong but not Macau) since 1997 there are no anti-discrimination laws on the books, although in Hong Kong transgenders can have their gender changed on most official documents, and gays and lesbians can neither adopt nor get married.However there is a movement underway according to Derek Yiu as he has written in an article at GayStarNews to allow same-sex marriage.
Li Yinhe a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences is asking backing from members of the National People's Congress (China's parliament) who are having an annual meeting in Beijing, to support a same-sex marriage bill. This would be the fourth time Yinhe has undergone the task of bringing same-sex marriage to China.
Trying to persuade her Chinese comrades by using one-upmanship over the United States, Trying to show officials the benefits, she said Beijing can use the approval of same-sex marriage as a proof to the world its effort in protecting human rights, ‘gaining the upper hand’ against the United States, which has just allowed gays to serve openly in the army.
Unlike in Catholic countries, she argued homosexuality has never been really frowned upon in traditional Chinese culture, making it easier to protect the gay community.
From a practical point of view, Li also said the ratio of men involved in gay sex and contracted with HIV/AIDS is over 5% and rapidly rising. She believes a nod to same-sex marriage will allow quite a number of gays to establish stable relationships.
There are estimated to be between 39 to 52 million gays and lesbians in China.
Li believes same-sex marriage could help deal with and lessen over population which has faced the Asian country of over a billion people. Homosexuality has been documented and written about in Chinese literature and part of Chinese art since ancient times.
