CHENGDU PROVINCE, China—Homosexuality exists in China just as it does in the Western world. The difference is, in China gay individuals and couples continue to hide their sexual orientation for fear of reprisals within a culture that does not celebrate diversity.
When Zeng Anquan and Pan Wenjie married Jan. 3, they knew their union would produce few congratulations outside their underground community. They were correct.
“All the capital in my company has been frozen by my younger brother,” Zeng, an architect, told Singapore-based clinical sexologist Martha Lee, PhD, for an article published at CarnalNation.com. “My sister warned me she would never call me her brother unless I break up with Pan, and I have answered hundreds of phone calls from friends and relatives who say they feel ashamed of me.”
Zeng said he realized in his 20s that he was attracted to other men. Although he married a woman with whom he fathered a daughter, the marriage did not last. Zeng confessed his sexual orientation after their daughter became an adult, and he and his wife divorced last year.
When he met his now-spouse, the two men at first hid their relationship. Zeng often told acquaintances Pan, a demobilized soldier who had a girlfriend at the time, was his adopted son.
“We finally moved back to my hometown of Luodai, a remote town in eastern Chengdu, where nobody knew us,” Zeng told CarnalNation.
Only two months after they met, the same-sex couple decided to marry in public ceremony hosted inside a bar that caters to homosexuals. More than 200 gay friends attended. The event was the first of its kind in the country.
Although China is thought to have some 30 million homosexual citizens, same-sex marriages are not recognized by the government. In fact, according to a professor at Qingdao University, openly gay or lesbian Chinese face more than a modicum of censure. In a recent survey of 1,259 Chinese homosexuals, Professor Zhang Beichuan discovered 62 percent keep their sexuality a secret. About 8.7 percent reported they were fired or forced to resign after admitting their sexuality, and another 4.7 percent said their salaries and professional advancement were limited once they were “outed.”
Zeng and Pan said none of their family members attended their wedding, but some since have begun to accept their relationship. Professor Zhang said he expects that kind of adjustment to occur more frequently in the future, especially now that prominent personalities in China—including respected sociologist Li Yinhe—have called for official recognition of same-sex unions.
Same-sex marriages are legal in only a handful of nations worldwide, including Sweden, the Netherlands, Canada and South Africa. In the U.S., civil unions and, more rarely, same-sex marriages may be sanctioned on a state-by-state basis, but the current national standard for both legal statuses is heterosexual.
