5 While the Chinese Society of Psychiatry removed homosexuality from the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders in 2001, generations of health professionals were trained at a time when homosexuality was a condition to be corrected. 4 What is more pervasive and concerning is the importation of early Western perspectives of mental illness and the belief that same-sex behavior and identities are pathological. While there are little to no legal regulations on behavior and identity (anal sex between cisgender men was removed from the penal code in 1907), there is a filial responsibility to have children and continue the family line, which results in LGBT Chinese individuals facing enormous pressure to conform to social and cultural expectations. 1 Following official pressure, China’s biggest and longest-running LGBT festival, Shanghai Pride, was canceled in 2016, numerous LGBT activities and advocates have been detained, and in 2021, WeChat, one of the most popular social media platforms in China, shut down dozens of LGBT accounts resulting in “one of the most widespread and coordinated acts of censorship targeting in the country in decades.” 2 With a growing mental health crisis in China, these actions are deliberately targeting LGBT Chinese individuals with the goal of isolating them from community support. Since assuming the presidency in 2012, Xi Jinping has narrowed or eliminated physical and virtual spaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Chinese individuals.
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