The country is currently reviewing its civil laws.
Equality activists in China have a launched a petition attempting to get same-sex marriage legalised in the country. The petition aimed to only get 100,000 signatures, something it managed to achieve within days.
However, despite the petition, the Chinese government has shown little signs of acknowledging it, and back in August, the governmental spokesperson ruled out the legalisation.
At a news briefing, Zang Tiewei said that the current rule fitted the country’s “national condition and historical and cultural traditions” and noted how many other countries around the world hadn’t made moves to legalise same-sex marriages.
Making a post on the Chinese messaging app WeChat, Ling Gu, a lesbian in the country, explained what a change in the marriage law would mean to her, saying: “Without a marriage certificate, it’s like a mission we can never accomplish. A blank left in the puzzle of life.”
The director of LGBT Rights Advocacy China, known only as Yanzi, told the South China Morning Post about doubts around the legalisation, admitting: “We know that it’s already the third draft and they will probably not include same-sex marriage, but at least we want to let lawmakers hear there’s a need among the LGBT community.”
However, he had hopes for the future, saying: “Even though these are just Weibo users, there is a high support rate [towards same-sex marriage].
“I believe if the public has a chance to get in touch with this sort of information, their attitudes will slowly change.”
Although homosexuality is legal in China, the country has taken great steps to try and censor mentions of it within the media.
The country has banned gay characters from appearing in television shows, and in 2017 announced plans to ban mentions of homosexuality on the internet. It has also cut a gay kiss from Alien: Covenant and Mango TV was banned from airing Eurovision after it cut Ireland’s performance from 2018’s Eurovision semi-finals because of two same-sex dancers.
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