Liang Wenhui, a graduate student from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies and founder of Chinese Gay-Straight Alliance, with the help of other students wrote and posted 3,000 individually-addressed letters to individual deputies of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) last week urging them to legalize same-sex marriage.

Twenty-two students from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou are said to have spent five and half hours stuffing the letters in the envelopes, piling them into four big boxes before taking them to the post office.

According to The Nanfang news website, Liang says that same-sex couples have experienced a lot of discrimination when it comes to receiving medical and health services, social welfare, and rights related to the disposal of property, commercial insurance, banking and the purchase of a home.

The 22-year-old, who is gay and regarded as one of Guangdong’s most prominent gay activists, wrote to 100 deputies last year but didn’t get any response and thus decided to increase the number of letters.

In an interview with Nanfang Metropolis Daily, he said that he realized he was different from other boys at a young age and suffered a great deal of stress because of his sexual orientation.

In 2011, he founded the Chinese Gay-Straight Alliance, which counts about 40 members, 70% of whom are heterosexual.

He said, ‘The social environment surrounding homosexuality won’t see any change if nobody stands out and everyone stays silent.’