Contentious Politics in Brazil and China: Beyond Regime by December Green & Laura Luehrmann

Author:December Green & Laura Luehrmann [Green, December & Luehrmann, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Comparative Politics, World, Asian, Caribbean & Latin American
ISBN: 9780813350042
Google: bCQGswEACAAJ
Goodreads: 25898138
Publisher: Westview Press
Published: 2016-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

Two lesbians pose for photographs in Beijing on Valentine’s Day, a holiday some have used to campaign for acceptance of homosexuality, 2009. Source: Reuters/Jason Lee

Especially in urban areas, LGBT groups attempt to host pride events within the public sphere, including same-sex marriage campaigns, lesbian salons, and pride festivals—although, depending on the mood of the leadership, such events risk disapproval or a late sleight of hand in which all activities are called off. Much of the political space afforded to LGBT associations by local governments has been in response to government attempts to mobilize citizens to fight the HIV-AIDS epidemic, using civil society groups to reach out to high-risk groups that government officials are unable or unwilling to engage—even though many leaders of gay and lesbian groups do not identify AIDS as a primary interest for their groups (Hildebrandt 2013). The emphasis on health issues within the LGBT community and its interaction with the government limits the discourse to biological terms, rather than civil rights issues (Speelman 2013). Lesbians have expressed much more difficulty organizing and finding acceptance than gay men, and most associations have been unable to formally register as an NGO, meaning they must rely on overseas sources of funding (Fincher 2014).

Public opinion toward same-sex relations—at least as expressed via digital repertoires on the Internet—may be shifting: Chinese netizens have shown international savvy, calling for a boycott against a famous film couple, Lü Liping and Sun Haiying, after they retweeted the anti-gay statements of a Chinese-American Baptist pastor in Rochester, New York. Lü and Sun reposted Pastor Feng Wei’s lamentations against the increasing legal acceptance of gay marriage laws in the United States and called on all of their fans to do the same. Instead, they faced the ire of many of their fans, including the Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays–China and Shanghai Pride, who lambasted the couple’s intolerance and ignorance of China’s history (“Gay Groups Urge” 2011). Government agencies and international NGOs provide funding for popular telephone hotlines. And one of China’s premier universities, Fudan University in Shanghai, has offered a course on homosexuality since 2005, taught by noted sociologist Li Yinhe (Simon and Brooks 2009). Li, famous for her annual (since 1993) submissions to the Chinese legislature, the National People’s Congress, proposing a same-sex marriage law, reports that 16 percent of Chinese male university students have had had a homosexual experience (Chan 2004). Despite having a legislative sponsor, supporters were unable to muster the thirty people necessary to place Li’s proposed legislation on the agenda. A cross-dressing garbage collector who was featured on a TV news report in Qingdao ignited a national debate about sexual identity after the news anchor mocked Liu Peilin, who also goes by Da Xige (which translates as “Mr. Great Happiness”). After video of the news report was posted on Weibo, with derogatory statements, Liu was turned into an online celebrity, with widespread calls for care and tolerance (Lu 2012).

Homosexuality and transgenderism remain largely hidden identities within China. In public

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