Homosexuality is no longer punishable in China. But it is only tolerated in private. Meeting places for queer athletes like in Vancouver in 2010 and in London in 2012 would be unthinkable in Beijing.
Almost seventy athletes of Chinese descent took part in the Paris Gay Games 2018 (here is a picture of the opening ceremony). Most of them do sports in their free time – they play no role in the Chinese state media.
Xu Jingsen became the first Chinese professional athlete to emerge from the shadows. In 2018, the surfer posted an image on the Weibo social network showing him riding a wave. In the background: a rainbow flag. “Yes, I’m gay,” Xu wrote. “Today I am brave to be my true self and I consider that to be the greatest gift.”
A few weeks later, Xu Jingsen carried the Chinese flag during the opening ceremony of the 2018 Gay Games in Paris. Almost seventy athletes of Chinese origin took part in this queer festival. Most of them do sports in their free time – they play no role in the Chinese state media. Well-known athletes who dare to come out like Xu Jingsen can be counted on one hand.
There are figures that make China appear even more regressive in this regard: More than 180 openly homosexual athletes took part in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo last year. Well, at the Winter Games in Beijing, there are at least 36. In both cases, this is a record, as activists from the US platform “Outsports” have researched.
“More and more athletes are going public and encouraging other people,” says Anne Lieberman of the non-governmental organization Athlete Ally. “But from the most populous country there is no openly queer athlete at the Olympic Games. The climate has gotten much worse for them.”
It is estimated that around seventy million people in China are gay, lesbian, bisexual or intersex. Lawmakers decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 and removed it from the list of “mental illnesses” in 2001. However, there is no anti-discrimination law. In recent years, homosexuality is tolerated as long as it remains private.
But that seems to be over now. Since last summer, authorities have blocked hundreds of LGBTQ-related chat groups and blogs, particularly at universities. In November, one of the main groups, LGBT Rights Advocacy China, gave in to pressure and ceased operations. The Shanghai Pride, the oldest and largest queer festival, was also discontinued.
Import from the west
“The political leadership uses the idea that homosexuality is an import from the West,” says sports sociologist Tobias Zuser, who teaches in Hong Kong. The top media regulator criticized “softened men” in video games and singers with make-up. Pop music from South Korea and films from Hollywood are said to be increasingly being pushed aside by domestic productions.
The “culture war” against the West does not stop at sport. Popular footballers have received bans for not covering up their tattoos or for grabbing their faces during the national anthem. In 2018, the football association gathered fifty young professionals in a military camp. In 2019, before the World Cup, the footballers received lessons entitled “Motherland in my heart”. In 2020, the Ministry of Education required schools to hire “retired athletes to cultivate students’ masculinity.”
Lost place in the national team after outing
In this climate, only a few personalities have come out of the sport apart from surfer Xu Jingsen. In June 2021, national soccer player Li Ying made her relationship with an influencer public on the Weibo platform. Li Ying received support but also encountered rejection. Shortly thereafter, her message disappeared online. For several months, the striker was not called up for the national team and missed the Olympic tournament in Tokyo. Whether as a punishment is unclear. She now keeps her relationship out of the public eye. In September 2021, volleyball player Sun Wenjing went public with a coming out, two years after retiring.
In June 2021, national soccer player Li Ying made her relationship with an influencer public on the Weibo platform. Li Ying received support but also encountered rejection.
It wasn’t that long ago that queer athletes also had to hide in Europe and North America. But again and again, sport offered them a place of protection. In the early 1970s, gay athletes in the United States founded a bowling league named after actress Judy Garland.
The first queer sports club in Europe was SC Janus in Cologne in 1980. Two years later, US decathlete Tom Waddell founded the Gay Games in San Francisco. They were originally supposed to be called the Gay Olympics, but the US National Olympic Committee banned the name. The Gay Games developed into a sporting arena for human rights, at least in the more liberal West.
This year, the Gay Games were supposed to take place in Asia for the first time, in Hong Kong, but due to the pandemic, they were postponed to November 2023. Athletes from Taiwan have already canceled participation out of concern for their safety. “The Hong Kong government didn’t really want to have anything to do with the Gay Games,” says sports sociologist Zuser. “Some Conservative MPs are taking a stand against the games.” 95 percent of sports facilities in Hong Kong are publicly owned. It is apparently not certain whether the government will make these available to the Gay Games.
Some Chinese activists who campaign for LGBTQ rights have high hopes for the Gay Games. “We live in a very traditional society. Sexual diversity is not discussed in the media or in school books,” says lawyer Wu Jian. He is currently abroad for research and does not want his real name published. “The Gay Games could open the eyes of conservative parents in particular to the fact that we are not a threat to society.” However, it is questionable whether the competitions will be shown in mainland China.
Almost 2,900 athletes are currently taking part in the Winter Olympics. If you follow the assumption that between five and ten percent of people are not heterosexual, there could be a good 200 queer athletes in China. As mentioned at the beginning, according to “Outsports”, only 36 publicly mentioned their sexuality. “The sport is not alone. In China, queer people, especially in rural areas, have to play a sad game of hide-and-seek,” says Wu Jian. “We assume that only five percent of them speak openly about the topic at work.”
In 2018 the Gay Games took place in Paris – China took part for the first time.
“Unthinkable in Beijing”
Homosexuality is still a criminal offense in 69 countries, and same-sex sex is punishable by death in 7 states. At the Olympic Games there were several so-called “pride houses”, meeting places for queer athletes and fans, for example at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver or at the 2012 Summer Games in London. “Even without Corona, such a place in Beijing would be unthinkable,” says Wu Jian. In Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, the LGBTQ scene has to organize their joint sporting activities in a conspiratorial manner, otherwise they risk losing halls. Far away from the metropolis, sport as a place of retreat is even pure utopia.