Xinyu Wen traveled to Thailand in June, planning a two-week vacation around Bangkok’s Pride parade. But the 28-year-old ended up staying a month and a half, soaking up the Thai capital’s thriving LBGTQ+ community.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    At home, Wen said she regularly gets judgmental stares on the street for wearing her hair short like a man’s, and was once asked by her barber: “What happened to your life?”

    More than that, she said she was also impressed by the protest element to the event, in which people carried signs written in traditional Chinese with slogans like “China has no LGBTQ” and “Freedom is what we deserve.”

    “Although I initially had a critical attitude toward the parade in Bangkok because discrimination against LGBTQ individuals hasn’t disappeared, I still felt inspired because the neglected groups and the suppressed feelings matter here.”

    Thailand Tourism Authority official Apichai Chatchalermkit said in an Aug. 9 article in The Nation newspaper that LGBTQ+ tourists are considered “high-potential” as they tend to spend more and travel more frequently than other visitors.

    Being gay is not illegal in China, though other Asian countries have strict laws around homosexuality — such as Malaysia, which announced in August that anyone in possession of an LGBTQ±themed watch could be jailed for 3 years.

    The 28-year-old, who works in the television industry, first visited Thailand four years ago and remembers being shocked to hear people talk casually about their same-sex partners.


    The original article contains 935 words, the summary contains 203 words. Saved 78%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, a lot of people seem to think that Communists are more LGBT friendly than average governments, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

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          1 year ago

          You’ll get protection if discrimination passes a certain point, but it’s really more of a “hey you shouldn’t treat people that way” and not a “hey you shouldn’t treat gay people that way.”

          A lot of older Chinese people just feel that the Western LGBT environment is rather odd: the rampant sexualization and PDA is at odds with the traditionally conservative culture. If the LGBT movement had adopted a more traditional protest scheme rather than the flair of flamboyance it has today, it would have seen much more support in China imo.

          Also, a lot of Chinese TV has homoerotic undertones, idk what you’re watching.

            • lilShalom@lemmy.basedcount.com
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              1 year ago

              In the 90s when lgbt was quieter, they said what happens in my bedroom is my business. Well now its everyones business weather you like it or not. With gen z, if youre not one of them youre a homophobe. Screw your preferences.

    • Joncash2@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Yeah but the problem with your argument is it’s the Chinese people that aren’t LGBTQ friendly. The communist government actually is.

      Here’s an article from the CCP celebrating LGBTQ people getting their equivalent of civil unions.

      https://news.cgtn.com/news/2019-08-09/LGBT-couples-in-China-file-for-voluntary-guardianship-J15eC8QcrC/index.html

      Here’s a list of popular Chinese Boy Love dramas that were created in China and approved by the CCP

      https://litdarlings.com/10-best-chinese-bl-dramas-to-watch-now/

      Yes, China censors actual kissing and physical contact in their LGBTQ films, however, that actually applies to straight films too. China just likes to censor things. However, it does not actively pick on LGBTQ.

      The problem is the people, as per the article

      Being gay is not illegal in China, At home, Wen said she regularly gets judgmental stares on the street for wearing her hair short like a man’s, and was once asked by her barber: “What happened to your life?”

      • Blursty@lemmygrad.ml
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        1 year ago

        Travel the world and experience what it’s like to be free and not living in a white supremacist state that hates your existence. Living in constant fear of being arbitrarily murdered by the militarised police or being sent to the prison labour camps on sentences that aren’t applied to white people etc.

        • livus@kbin.socialOP
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          1 year ago

          @Blursty There is quite a lot of Black American tourism to Liberia, maybe that’s an example of what you are talking about.

          • Blursty@lemmygrad.ml
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            1 year ago

            Is there really? I don’t know anything about that, good for them to experience some freedom.

              • livus@kbin.socialOP
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                1 year ago

                @candle_lighter

                @Blursty

                Yes, Liberia was colonized by freed slaves from America, and their descendants formed a power elite there until the civil wars.

                It’s a fascinating history. At one point America had to step in because Britain wanted to investigate reports that the ex-slaves were massacring some of the local African population.