Chinese - A judge in the central city of Changsharuled Wednesday against a gay couple in China's first same-sex marriage case.
Sun Wenlin, 27, brought the case against his local civil affairs bureau because it refused to grant a marriage license last summer to him and his partner, Hu Mingliang, 37.
"I had hope before the trial started, but when I saw the official from Civil Affairs Ministry look at the judge, I knew that the result had been decided in advance," Sun told USA TODAY after the court hearing.
Hundreds cheered for the couple outside as they entered the court. Authorities allowed about 100 people to go inside.
Sun, who said he and Hu will appeal, explained that his motive for bringing the case was not a personal one.
"It is to secure equality for all people. ... It is to make gay people’s voices heard," he said.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in China in 1997, but Sun hoped to win his case on the grounds that Chinese law doesn’t specifically ban marriage between two men.
The hearing came three days after a labor tribunal heard China’s first transgender discrimination case.
A 28-year-old transgender man surnamed Chen took action after he was dismissed from a job at a health services firm in the southwestern city of Guiyang last month for wearing men’s clothes. The tribunal will issue a verdict at the end of the month.
The two cases illustrate a new legal approach to advancing LGBT rights in China.
Sun’s case was expected to be heard in January but was delayed until Wednesday. In the interim, police came to his house asking him to drop the case.
"They told me that everyone has the responsibility to carry on the family line and that I am violating traditional beliefs. I told them it’s your freedom to carry on (the) family line, and my freedom to choose not to," he said.
Many Chinese gay and lesbian couples enter into heterosexual marriages to have children and keep their parents happy. Some experts have argued that China's one-child policy, which ended in January, exacerbated the phenomenon because many families had only one child to carry on the family line.
"I am not surprised about today’s verdict. There is no understanding of gender pluralism in China," said Xin Ying, director of the Beijing LGBT Center. "But that fact that we have entered the era when we can ask for gay marriage, that is a big step," she added.
Sun Wenlin, 27, brought the case against his local civil affairs bureau because it refused to grant a marriage license last summer to him and his partner, Hu Mingliang, 37.
"I had hope before the trial started, but when I saw the official from Civil Affairs Ministry look at the judge, I knew that the result had been decided in advance," Sun told USA TODAY after the court hearing.
Hundreds cheered for the couple outside as they entered the court. Authorities allowed about 100 people to go inside.
Sun, who said he and Hu will appeal, explained that his motive for bringing the case was not a personal one.
"It is to secure equality for all people. ... It is to make gay people’s voices heard," he said.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in China in 1997, but Sun hoped to win his case on the grounds that Chinese law doesn’t specifically ban marriage between two men.
The hearing came three days after a labor tribunal heard China’s first transgender discrimination case.
A 28-year-old transgender man surnamed Chen took action after he was dismissed from a job at a health services firm in the southwestern city of Guiyang last month for wearing men’s clothes. The tribunal will issue a verdict at the end of the month.
The two cases illustrate a new legal approach to advancing LGBT rights in China.
Sun’s case was expected to be heard in January but was delayed until Wednesday. In the interim, police came to his house asking him to drop the case.
"They told me that everyone has the responsibility to carry on the family line and that I am violating traditional beliefs. I told them it’s your freedom to carry on (the) family line, and my freedom to choose not to," he said.
Many Chinese gay and lesbian couples enter into heterosexual marriages to have children and keep their parents happy. Some experts have argued that China's one-child policy, which ended in January, exacerbated the phenomenon because many families had only one child to carry on the family line.
"I am not surprised about today’s verdict. There is no understanding of gender pluralism in China," said Xin Ying, director of the Beijing LGBT Center. "But that fact that we have entered the era when we can ask for gay marriage, that is a big step," she added.
Source: usatoday.com
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