Nine LGBT couples from China are having a mass wedding on a cruise ship
Nine LGBT couples from China will hold a mass wedding this week on a cruise ship.
Gay, lesbian and trans couples will tie the knot in front of 800 people on the cruise ship as part of Pride celebrations in China – where same-sex marriage is still illegal.
The event comes after Taiwan legalised same-sex marriage earlier this year.
Aries Liu, a 32-year-old trans man, is one of the people included in the wedding celebrations.
He explained that the event is important to him because his parents are attending.
They finally accepted his sexuality last year after he came out two decades ago.
Liu said to Reuters: “It’s amazing to have my parents there as witnesses. Over all these years, I have been paving the way to acceptance bit by bit.”
He went on to explain that part of the reason for his parent’s acceptance was the increasing number of active LGBT communities across China.
“Now it’s completely different. Many cities have lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community activities.”
While China has not made any moves towards marriage equality, Liu and many others hope that soon it will follow Taiwan.
“Mainland China is more cautious, it will adopt measures to avoid social conflict. I believe this is a very serious consideration for officials – stability.”
“Due to our courage to take a stand and progress now, I think gay marriage will be legal in 10 years,” Liu added.
A group of mothers of LGBT people were kicked out of the famous “marriage market” in Shanghai last month after they tried to find partners for their children.
Women held rainbow umbrellas with advertisements of their children and their specs – height, salary, age and education.
However, they were asked to leave by security when people began to protest their presence.
“LGBT issues shouldn’t be a public display. Their choice is wrong and is against Chinese values,” a protester said.
A lesbian woman in China recently set up a marriage of convenience service to help gay people trick their families into thinking that they are married.
The service, iHomo, has arranged over 100 marriages between gay people looking to please their families.
An academic in the country recently claimed that the lack of prospective brides could be ‘solved’ by letting men marry each other instead.
Xie Zuoshi, a professor at Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, proposed that reforming the idea of marriage would help ease the strain on the rejection of female children.
