Chinese Men are Challenging the Government to Marry Their Partners
A Chinese man is challenging local officials to allow him to marry his male partner, the latest move in a series of efforts to advance gay and lesbian rights in China.
Earlier this month, Sun Wenlin, a 26-year-old living in Changsha in central China’s Hunan province, filed a complaint against the Changsha Furong District Civil Affairs Bureau. The complaint challenges a decision by local authorities to decline to register the two for marriage. In the complaint, Mr. Sun argues that the law doesn’t specifically say marriage is between a man and woman, but between a husband and wife.
“A husband and a wife can be understood in terms of both relationship and identity,” Mr. Sun told China Real Time, explaining that he doesn’t think it means only a heterosexual man and woman can get married. “In terms of relationship, two people who have no blood ties can form a family.”
The court has yet to accept the case, Mr. Sun says. A man working at the Furong District People’s Court district in Changsha said, “We will come out with a result.” By law the court has until Dec. 23 to respond. Mr. Sun said he will appeal to the Changsha Intermediate People’s Court if the lower court doesn’t accept his case.
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Mr. Sun’s complaint comes amid a push among China’s gay and lesbian community to gain acceptance in the country. Until 1997, homosexuality was a crime in the Middle Kingdom, and it was classified as a mental illness until 2001.
In November, the gay dating app Blued, which now has more than three million daily active users, said it is considering an initial public offering. In February, Alibaba Group Holding held a contest where 10 same-sex couples won an all-expenses paid wedding ceremony and honeymoon in California. At the time, the company said it hoped the contest would foster “respect and understanding of homosexuality.”
“We just hope that we can legally become each other’s family in our own country someday in our lifetime,” Mr. Sun said. “Our most basic desires and rights have been denied and it is very difficult to vindicate. I feel very angry.”
Mr. Sun, an editor at an Internet company, said he met his partner on instant-messaging service QQ in June 2014. He says the two came out to each other when they first met, and bonded over difficulties of being gay in China, such as coming out to family. Mr. Sun called his partner, who works as a security guard, “kind-hearted and tender.”
It isn’t clear whether Mr. Sun’s case is a first gay marriage case in China. One commenter on the official Weibo social-media account of a gay rights group said, “Someone may say this is meaningless and doomed to fail. But if there is anyone who stands out first, then there must be a second one to protect his rights.”
Mr. Sun said he remains optimistic. “If there is still no progress this year, we will continue to come to this marriage registration office on our anniversary next year,” he said. “I believe Chinese society will change because of our actions.”
Alyssa Abkowitz, Marco Huang and Chang Chen. Follow Alyssa on Twitter @AlyssaAbkowitz.
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