Audio Transcript Auto-generated
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Hi guys, I'm Madonna and today I'll be going over
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a quick timeline of the gay rights movement in china.
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Um I chose topic because I have an associate of
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arts and chinese.
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So I'm pretty interested in the culture and I actually
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remember the LGBT community.
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So this movement is kind of near and dear to
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my heart.
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So we're going to start off with pre PRC china.
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Yes. Um Confucianism was a huge influence on chinese culture
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and Confucian ideals valued a strict hierarchy in the family.
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So respect for elders was a huge thing and Children
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had an obligation to their parents to continue this bloodline,
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which meant that sons were very important.
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So as far as marriage went, the only thing that
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was important was having sons.
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So as long as someone is doing that than any
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outside relationship was pretty accepted, which meant that like extra
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marital relationships were pretty common as well as same sex
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relationships. Um One of the most famous examples of this
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in chinese history was Emperor I of Han and his
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lover Dongshan.
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But you can see right here um as one of
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their stories go, they were sleeping together when the emperor
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had to get up but he was unwilling to wake
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up function who was sleeping on his sleeve.
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So to avoid this, he actually cut off his own
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sleeve. Um This act of affection caused same sex relationships
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to be described as the passion of the sleeve.
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Then came the self strengthening movement, which was 1861-
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1895. Um This was a period of institutional reforms to
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china. So after being introduced to Western knowledge and values,
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there was a shift from general acceptance too.
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Same sex relationships starting to be viewed as a natural
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due to these Western influences and then we we move
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on to PRC.
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So in 1949, the PRC was founded under Macedon who
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is here at the bottom of the slide.
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Um, there was a push to get rid of a
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lot of traditional ideas and cultural attitudes and adopt these
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new, like Western views instead.
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So any person who was considered like deviant or decadent
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was launched into this distant category, which was like just
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opposing policies user opposing the party.
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And then there was the Cultural Revolution.
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So 1966 until 1967, members of the LGBT community, we're
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often accused of hooliganism, which was sort of catch all
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label, the Communist Party used to punish again, like any
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form of deviation or undesirable behavior during this time, kind
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of everything going on was done for the revolution, which
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included sex.
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So it was just seen as like a way to
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produce new revolutionaries.
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So any sex without that reason was seen as kind
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of like useless and against what you should be doing
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for the country.
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Um but the legality of it all, it was kind
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of always like in this gray area, so it was
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never officially illegal to be LGBT.
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However, crimes such as this, like hooliganism made it easy
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to punish members of the LGBT community who were seen
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as you know, strength from the norm or as having
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mental disorders or diseases.
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Then we go to modern China.
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So in 1979, Deng Xiaoping started the open door policy,
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which I mean like it sounds had more of an
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open door theme and allowed for more of a foreign
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influence than what was previously going on in China with
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them just being in their own little bubble.
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So by then there was a strong like gay subculture
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in Western countries.
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So china slowly became introduced to that mostly in like
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big coastal areas like Hong kong or Taiwan.
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And then as a result of these 1980 marriage act
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and the famous One Child policy um the chinese attitude
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towards relationships and sex sort of sort of started like
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shifting again um without that mindset of have sex to
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create revolutionaries for the country, there was more sexual freedom
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and recreational sex including a greater tolerance for same sex
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relationships. But I mean of course like cultures don't change
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overnight so there's still a lot of stigma attached to
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the LGBT community but Probably the two biggest acts that
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have happened so far.
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Um for the LGBT community in China are the 1997
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um After the Chinese criminal code being revised.
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So the crime Hooliganism was removed, which is why, although
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of course some say it was never technically illegal, many
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C. as the year being gay was decriminalized in China.
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Um and then in 2001 the Chinese classification of mental
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disorders formally removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses
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and then to today, so what's being done today?
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Um China is definitely known as being like incredibly censored,
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but the internet has been like a huge help for
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the LGBT community being used to connect activists and grassroots
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organizations. And then by 2012 there were more than 100
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LGBT community organizations established in mainland china.
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Although um a lot of these non profit organizations do
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identify as like social groups advocating for public health, such
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as like HIV and AIDS because the government won't officially
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support or promote LGBT organizations.
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Um China's current stance is that while they don't exactly
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have an issue with the community, they won't really tolerate
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any activism because they don't allow like non government organizations
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or ngos.
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So the biggest issue with progression right now is that
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the government very much wants to keep LGBT issues in
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this light gray area, um wanting to be seen as
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not against the community, but also isn't ready to be
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exactly supportive either.
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Um with that being said, there are many people who
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celebrate Pride month in june and then the international day
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against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia And the media.
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So the media most powerful tool for awareness.
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Um starting with a 2004 CCTV open discussion on the
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issue of like AIDS in the gay community, there have
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been many instances of LGBT issues being publicly spoken about
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in china, although not always cast them positively and still
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very much a sensitive topic.
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Like most of the time any media attention brings more
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awareness of the community.
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Um the same could be said for brand support.
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So, Nike is one such brand that has made like
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Pride clothing in china, while many people have qualms about
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big brands making money off of the LGBT movement by
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having like Pride lines of merchandise in june, there is
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definitely something to be said about like wearing clothing with
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such a big brand name to a pride gathering in
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a country that doesn't even necessarily support the set gathering.
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Um and then aside from international movements, there's some big
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LGBT events local to china, including this Beijing Queer Film
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festival which is held annually um and it was actually
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founded in 2001, so it's been going pretty strong, um
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started to close off while Taiwan has recently legalized gay
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marriage and public opinion on the LGBT community has been
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slowly becoming more positive in china.
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Few people really expect to see huge changes in the
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new future because of their conservative government and the traditional
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view on family marriage.
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Um There are currently no real protections for members of
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the LGBT community in china, meaning that they can like
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easily be discriminated against in various ways, like furthering the
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sigma to come out to family and friends.
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Um so there's just there's a long road ahead and
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it's like worldwide issue and not specific to china, but
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with the help of connections to the digital era and
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of course, pressure from like foreign powers who are also
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slowly becoming more progressive.
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We can only hope that activists in china will one
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day be able to be proud of a more accepting
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country that they hopefully helped create.
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Um yeah, so these are my sources that I have
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used for this presentation.
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I I really hope that if you're interested in this
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topic that you take the time to check these out
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for any further information and thanks for listening.