Five years ago Chinese LGBT rights activist Xiaogang Wei decided to focus on the positive and celebrate responsible reporting. He says progress is being made

In July 2011 Chinese news anchor Qiu Qiming shocked the country by going off-script to stand up for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights. “The sexual orientation of certain people in our midst are different from the rest of us,” said the presenter on state broadcaster CCTV. “But they are also diligently contributing to society. Gay people, like us, have the right to exist and develop themselves in society, and this right should not be overtaken by any other concept.”

He was responding to the news that award-winning Chinese actress Lu Liping enthusiastically retweeted a pastor in New York who said the US was “falling into depravity” for legalising same-sex marriage.

He went beyond personal stories to talk about how you actually make changes in society Xiaogang Wei

China Daily described Qiu’s comments as “an uncharacteristically bold move” and Beijing-based LGBT-rights activist Bin Xu said they were “really surprising”.

Qiu was picked as person of the year in 2016’s Rainbow Media Awards (RMA), which celebrate responsible reporting of LGBT issues in China. At the end of last year Qiu produced and hosted his own current affairs show about several lawsuits brought by LGBT people in China.

“It was really important because he went beyond personal stories to talk about how you actually make changes in society,” says Xiaogang Wei, co-founder of the RMA and executive director of NGO Beijing Gender Health Education Institute.

Inspired by the Glaad awards, which celebrate responsible coverage of LGBT people in the US, RMA launched in 2011. “We wanted to engage the media to be more involved in LGBTI issues,” says Wei. “We decided it was better to award them rather than criticise. So we came up with this idea to encourage more friendly media.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Qiu Qiming with his Rainbow Media Award. Photograph: Hemu

At the first ceremony none of the winners turned up to accept their awards. But at the 2016 awards in January, all the winners were there to receive their accolades and made gushing speeches. “They said really nice things on stage,” says Wei. “They talked about why they decided to write this article and how they felt about it.”

There are signs that LGBT rights in China are slowly progressing. Following a history scattered with references to gay men – like Emperor Ai who legend has it cut off his sleeve rather than wake his male lover during the Han dynasty (206BC to AD220) – homosexuality was stigmatised after the communist revolution in 1949, because it was associated with western decadence. The ministry of health removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in 2001 and Shanghai has held an annual Pride celebration (but not a march – marches are tricky in China) since 2009.

Wei says negative, stereotyping and disrespectful media coverage of LGBT people is less common than it was five years ago. “In 2012 we only had 365 reports on LGBTI issues in the media. But in 2015 we had 867 reports. It has increased a lot. And the reports are also more objective, more positive.” RMA is now working with UN development programme and academics to produce a more official report on the national media’s coverage of LGBT issues.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A still from the film Mama Rainbow, about the relationship between gay children and their parents, made by filmmaker Fan Popo. Photograph: Fan Popo

Since starting the awards, the group behind them have expanded what they do to offer media training for LGBT-rights organisations and LGBT-rights training for journalists. At the trainings all over the country, journalists tell Wei that it is still very difficult to get editors to cover LGBT issues, especially in China’s interior cities. “One journalist told me she tried to pitch the story for over a year and finally it was published,” says Wei. “But that really encouraged me that some journalists are making the effort, not just LGBTI organisations.”

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Wei says that while coverage of LGBT issues is getting more positive and understanding, it still needs to be more diverse. “LGBT reports have seen a lot of improvement,” he says. “But there’s more to do. We might have gay or lesbian people in the media – but not transgender, intersex, bisexual or queer people. There are still a lot of things that need to be more reported on so there are more voices.”

LGBT people are getting more legal recognition in China, as well as media recognition. A series of lawsuits have brought publicity and energy to various aspects of the fight for LGBT rights, although the court wins were largely symbolic. From 1 May last year, new legislation meant it is now easier to sue in China. This has seen a 29% rise in cases, including some ridiculous ones like the man suing an actress for staring at him through a TV screen.

LGBT rights activists are using the new rules to their advantage. A gay couple are currently suing for the right to get married and last August student Chen Qiuyan sued about the description of homosexuality as a mental disorder in university textbooks.

Filmmaker Fan Popo sued the government for taking his documentary Mama Rainbow down from the internet. He won the case in December but the film is still unavailable to see online on Chinese hosting sites.

Decisive action from the authorities may be lacking, but judges are hearing cases, and messages are getting out in the media about LGBT people’s right to exist. “Of course it’s great for LGBT organisations to use the law in a positive way,” says Wei. “At least now that we know that if we sue the Chinese government, you might win.”

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