Parents of gay children in China have written an open letter to the National People’s Congress asking the government to legalize gay marriage.

‘Our children are unable to legally form a family with their beloved partners, because of their sexual orientation, which has caused a great deal of inconvenience for them in a number of ways, including in everyday life and when they seek medical treatment,’ said the letter (translated by Liz Carter) from over 100 parents who are members of PFLAG China.

‘Some of our children have been with their same-sex partners for almost ten years; they care for and love each other dearly, but they are unable to legally sign for their partners when they are ill and in need of an operation.’

The letter says that it’s ‘incredible’ that their gay children can legally marry members of the opposite sex even though they don’t love them. The parents say that this leads to the widespread problem of fake marriages in China.

‘We strongly request that National People’s Congress (NPC) delegates and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) committee members give their attention to this matter… so that China’s 60 million homosexual citizens can have an equal right to marry,’ the letter concludes, applying the statistic that 3-5% of people are gay to China’s population.

Director of PFLAG China Ah Qiang told South China Morning Post that he has not received a response to the letter from any NPC delegates.

Last year PFLAG China wrote to the NPC asking to pass a law to criminalize discrimination against LGBT people in China.

Earlier this week a lesbian couple tried to register their marriage in Beijing, to bring attention to the issue in China.