China insists that marriage will be ‘between a man and a woman’ as LGBT+ activists demand equality
Lesbian couple hold hands wearing wedding dresses. (Carl Court/Getty)
An official in China has insisted that marriage will continue to be “between a man and a woman” after LGBT+ activists demanded equality.
The country’s parliament is in the process of enacting its first ever civil code and sought the public’s opinions on the marriage and family section last November.
The legislature received more than 200,000 suggestions – however, an official insisted that change is not on the horizon, according to the South China Morning Post.
Officials said pleas for same-sex marriage in China were part of an ‘organised act’.
Huang Wei, an official with the Legislative Affairs Commission of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, insisted that the suggestions received urging them to legalise same-sex marriage were sent in as part of “an organised act”.
“The letters sent to us came in the same envelope, with the same content, and the online messages were the same – it’s all been copied and pasted,” she told Thepaper.cn.
She added that marriage will continue to be “between a man and a woman” and said they would not be entertaining suggestions for change from LGBT+ activists.
The letters sent to us came in the same envelope, with the same content, and the online messages were the same – it’s all been copied and pasted.
LGBT+ activist Sun Wenlin slammed the official’s comments, saying she was just looking for an excuse not to consider marriage equality.
“These are not reasons to reject same-sex marriage,” Sun said.
Activists have slammed the legislature for making ‘excuses’ for stalling on change.
“She should’ve talked about what research they did, what discussions and analysis there had been, and what kind of debates remained,” Sun added.
He branded her comments “discriminatory and oppressive” and said they will be ramping up their campaign for marriage equality in China.
Earlier this year, activists were elated when the country’s highest level of state power, the National People’s Congress, publicly acknowledged petitions to legalise marriage equality.
But the latest comments from Huang could put their hopes for change in jeopardy once more.
Notably, China is now thought to have the biggest LGBT+ economy in the world – but has repeatedly refused to offer equality to its queer community.
