Flumesday.com - China University Welcomes Gay Club

China University Welcomes Gay Club
Okay so the headline's misleading. I don't mean "gay club" as in a place for loud dance music with guys dressed like policemen and sailors and stuff. No Chinese university would welcome that. Yet. But as reported in the China Daily yesterday, a gay/straight alliance of sorts was approved by one of China's biggest and best public universities. "Gay club" as in homosexual college students sitting around and talking about stuff. Zhongshan University in southern China's Guangdong province registered the "Rainbow Group", a club dedicated to achieving equal rights for gays in China. The group is open to heterosexuals as well as homosexuals. But the "straight" kids running to join the Rainbow Group should activate anyone's gaydar. While in the West, gay groups are quite common in high schools and colleges, in China, the Rainbow Group is the first of its kind. The attitude toward homosexuality in China is quite complex. While most Chinese say they do not oppose the homosexual lifestyle, organized homosexuality is still seen to many as an affront to traditional Chinese values. Lin Yinhe, the controversial Chinese sex blogger, wrote in response to the Rainbow Group's establishment that a mother of a 24-year-old member attempted to commit suicide when she learned that her son had joined. Dramatic, yes. Shocking after having lived in China, no. One student's father claimed he would sue the school for promoting "new types of sexual relations." While homosexuality is hardly new, this parent's fear illuminates the vast generational gap in attitudes about sex in China. Because like it or not Mom and Dad, China is in the midst of a sexual revolution. After years of repression and sexual angst, the Chinese are finally doin' it. Doin' it with men, doin' it with women, before marriage, after marriage, during marriage with people outside the marriage, talking about sex, writing about sex and it's all being driven by China's empowered youth. And with regard to the changing sexual values among Chinese youth, as D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince said back in '89, parents just don't understand.

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