Source: Sup China (4/16/18)
Weibo revokes ban on homosexual content after uproar
By Jiayun Feng, Jeremy Goldkorn
A rare piece of good news for freedom of expression in China: Sina Weibo, confronting a colossal backlash from the public following its ban on homosexual content issued last Friday, announced today that it had reversed the decision, limiting the cleanup campaign to only pornographic and violent comics and games.
“We won’t target gay content anymore in this cleanup of games and anime,” the Weibo administration announced (in Chinese) on April 16, a mere three days after the initial ban was issued. “Instead, we’ll focus on content with pornographic and violent themes. Thank you for your discussions and suggestions.”
The reversal constituted a rare case in the history of Weibo, one of the biggest and most popular social media platforms in China: It is highly unusual to lift censorship of a certain topic in direct response to user feedback. The decision also marked an unprecedented triumph for the gay community in China.
Some notable events over the weekend:
- A hashtag campaign, “I am homosexual” (#我是同性恋 wǒ shì tóngxìngliàn), took off quickly after the announcement on Friday, with hundreds of thousands of people proudly stating their gay identity and sharing stories of coming out in protest of the original ban. Before the campaign page was taken down by Weibo, it attracted more than 240 million views and 170,000 posts bearing the hashtag.
- A social experiment video of some gay men and women seeking hugs on the Chinese streets has been shared over 238,000 times on Weibo, with about 53,800 comments.
- Feminist and founder of influential online platform Women’s Voices Lu Pin 吕频tweeted: “After giving up censoring homosexual content, Weibo reactivate the hashtag ‘我是同性恋’…which has accumulated 5.5 hundred million times of reading. This victorious moment definitely deserves celebrating for a while before next wave of suppression come.”
- “The Gay Voice,” a Weibo account that started in 2009 with around 230,000 followers, announced its suspension on April 14, and the post attracted widespread attention on Weibo. The account is now back online (in Chinese).
Interestingly, the People’s Daily website published a commentary (in Chinese) on April 15, emphasizing that there is more than one sexual orientation in the world, and thathomosexuality is by no means a psychological disorder. The commentary was relegated to the “Strong Country Forum” section of the People’s Daily website, and it did not appear in the print edition, but one must take comfort in small signs of hope:
- The article has been circulated widely with attribution to the Party’s house paper; see, for example, this reprint on the popular news channel of Netease (in Chinese). The comments on that Netease reprint (in Chinese) range from supportive of tolerance to joy about the People’s Daily’s progressive attitude to homophobic jeers.
- Citing a textbook of sex education for primary school students in China, the article argues, “It’s personal choice as to whether you approve of homosexuality or not. But rationally speaking, it should be a consensus that everyone should respect other people’s sexual orientations.”
Further reading:
- Weibo administration: “We’re no longer targeting gay content” / What’s on Weibo
- ‘I am gay, not a pervert’: Furor in China as Sina Weibo bans gay content / NYT (paywall)
- Weibo revokes gay content ban following online outcry / Sixth Tone
—Jiayun Feng, Jeremy Goldkorn