Rare gay marriage on Chinese soil draws unbridled praise online
PUBLISHED : Monday, 08 September, 2014, 6:56pm
UPDATED : Monday, 08 September, 2014, 6:56pm
Chen Yifei [email protected]
Brian Davidson posted this wedding photo on his weibo last Saturday. Photo: Weibo
Chinese web users applauded a rare same-sex marriage on Chinese soil as a British diplomat announced his wedding online.
Brian Davidson, the UK consul-general in Shanghai, posted wedding photos of himself and his same-sex partner Scott Chang on Weibo on Saturday.
“We can finally exchange vows in the presence of my family and friends (British, American, Chinese), and commit to each other until death do us apart. This is really important for me and my partner,” Davidson said.
As of Monday afternoon, the post has been re-tweeted more than 30,000 times, and generated nearly 20,000 comments – many are congratulating the couple and sending best wishes.
“Love is equal for all. Being heterosexual, I support legalisation of same-sex marriage,” one person wrote.
“Gay people in China should come out and announce their marriage to spread the message that true love should be recognised, regardless of sexuality,” another said.
“Same-sex marriage is not a privilege. It is affording people the rights they should be born to have,” wrote another.
Despite activists’ efforts for legal reform, same-sex marriage and civil union are not permitted in China. The country’s marriage laws explicitly define marriage as a union “between a man and woman.”
The couple were married at the Beijing residence of Sir Sebastian Wood, the British ambassador to China, under British jurisdiction.
The UK parliament passed the same-sex marriage bill in July last year, and same-sex couples can now marry at 23 British consulates around the world – including mainland China. The British consulate in Hong Kong cannot perform these ceremonies nor issue marriage certificates due to an objection by the SAR government.
The Chinese media reported the country’s first same-sex marriage in 2010, when a gay couple from Chengdu in southwestern China staged their wedding at a local gay bar.
The couple told the Beijing News that they faced a huge amount of pressure after their marriage hit the media spotlight, with strangers pointing at them in the street and people calling them to berate them. Yet the couple was still seeking “social recognition” of their status and a legally-binding marriage certificate.
Not all messages for Davidson were so welcoming. Some commentators made reference to “mental illness” even though homosexuality was removed from the list of mental diseases by the Chinese health ministry over a decade ago.
The China Rainbow Media Awards, an annual award set up by NGOs and gay forums to raise awareness of same-sex rights said on its Weibo homepage, “Homophobia is seen everywhere in our society. There is a long way to go before the legalisation of same-sex marriage in China [can be achieved].”
