1. What are the guidelines for CSSSM’s work?

CSSSM is an independent alliance founded in September, 1997 by a group of students, scholars and other professionals across the world who are interested in promoting gay affirmation in the Chinese culture, with a focus on mainland China.

The present main task is to disseminate gay-affirmative information to counter prejudice against sexual minorities. As homosexuality has been a taboo in many parts of the Chinese culture, we have been filling in the blank of understanding homosexuality in a scientific and humane light. The efforts have proven to be very effective in boosting the self-confidence of the sexual minorities as well as winning support from the academia. CSSSM’s focus on information dissemination helps make it possible that when a public debate on homosexuality is once opened in China, the gay community and their supporters will have sufficient factual gay affirmative information to promote gay pride and to counter the opposition from various sources.

2. What is the general situation for gays and lesbians in China nowadays?

The situation has improved considerably in the past decade. Even though homosexuality still remains a taboo for most channels of the mass media, several books on this has been published. Newspapers and magazines sometimes cover the community of sexual minorities, although some tabloid journalists seem more interested in touring public restrooms than in examining the lives of gays and lesbians in a more objective light. Moreover, as gay studies are emerging in China nowadays, CSSSM has been building up the largest information bank in this regard on the web.

Internet has been playing a strikingly significant role in building the gay community. Even though censorship is enforced in internet development, hundreds of gay web are not curbed. Personal ads and information on homosexuality have been widespread in these sites. Some major web server such as Sohu (similar to a Yahoo in Chinese) even features a special section on homosexuality.

With the advent of the AIDS crisis, the government has realized the importance of promoting health education in this community after a decade of silence and reluctance. The Ministry of Public Health has openly acknowledged that the gay (maile) population in China is about 30 to 40 million, which accounts for 3% of the total population, or about 6% of the total male population.

Homosexuality has never been listed as a crime in the criminal code in mainland China since 1949. Although gays were arrested and charged with hooliganism, this article was expunged by the legal reform in 1997. Gay bars, discos and other gathering plots have appeared in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Dalian and Qingdao. However, the reputation is spread through the words of mouth instead of advertising in the public media. Police raids to these gathering places seem to be more financially than politically motivated, which indicates that the gay community is a victim more of bureaucratic corruption than of political persecution.

Because of a deep-rooted tradition which values marriages and procreation and official censorship on information flow, gay affirmative information is extremely scarce. Homosexuality is still classified as a mental disorder in China, which means gays and lesbians are subject to medical treatment, although this intervention is hardly enforced these days. Two consequences have occurred under these circumstances:

1) Gay and lesbians do not have a good self-understanding and many perceive themselves in the same light as does social prejudice. Some mental health professionals have been calling for gay- positive counseling, but no specific programs are available yet. Although an increasing number of mental health professionals support the depathologization of homosexuality and intend to bring China to the current international standards, the majority still consider homosexuality as a mental disorder. Many lesbians and gays are considered “sick” not only by their family, but also by themselves. Apart from those who are out in the gay communities in large cities, the vast majority of Chinese gays and lesbians can not find anyone to talk to about their inner feelings. Depression is common and suicidal intention is not rarely heard among sexual minorities.

2) Gays and lesbians have been facing tremendous pressure from their families and friends to get married when reaching adulthood. Some want to come out to their parents in an attempt to get rid of the pressure, but they cannot find any gay affirmative information in the Chinese language for their parents to read.

3. How does the historical tradition in China affect the strategy of CSSSM?

The strategy of CSSSM is affected by both the historical contexts of the Chinese culture.

1) Religion exerts much less substantial influence in China than in the west. Buddhism does not have anything to say with regards to homosexuality. Christianity or Islam has never achieved dominance in mainstream ideology and will not be so in the foreseeable future. The atheist nature of communist doctrines has also deeply undercut the significance of religion. “Advocate Science and Eliminate Superstition” has been an official policy for decades and have been widely accepted by the majority of the people. Imposing religious scriptures on social issues has never been a popular or effective approach in the past five decades.

2) Prejudice against sexual minorities mainly comes from the historical tradition which values marriage and procreation (especially for male offspring), but this tradition has been seriously undercut by the birth-control policy enforced in the past two decades. Many people, including the majority of mental health professionals, still feel uncomfortable with homosexuality, but they can hardly articulate their opposition to it apart from citing archaic theories of pathologization, which have been largely discarded by their western contemporaries.

3) One important heritage in the Chinese culture is valuing education and scholarship above anything else. The thirst for learning and knowledge has been greatly appreciated and praised throughout the history. To cater to the needs of the general public, the information published by CSSSM covers a wide range of disciplines from psychology, sociology, economics, political science, to history, political science, human rights, literature, etc., in order to convey progressiveness and persuasion in a diverse and non-threatening fashion. With the tight censorship still enforced in China and with the lack of access of external channels of information, CSSSM has been playing a very crucial role.

4) The political system in China still remains the one-party rule. Freedom of speech has gained some ground among the general public, but the freedom of press is still seriously restricted. Gay affirmative information has been available in the public media in the past several years, but it remains scarce.

As we have seen from above, gay advocacy in China in the name of science and education will be a much more effective strategy than using the enemy-identifying-and-conflict-seeking tact. This tactic has been proven to be effective in some situations. In early this issue, when a libel case was raised in Beijing, a number of scholars from various institutions testified in court along with two gays, including one who still serves in the military, on behalf of gays and lesbians. Finally, the high court dropped from the verdit the statement of labeling homosexuality as a mental disorder. This marked the first case in China where homosexuality was not considered to be ‘abnormal’.

4. How is information disseminated?

A lot of writing is involved here. We resort to the internet, the most cost-effective channel to conduct our work. Biweekly internet journals Tao Hong Man Tian Xia has published 83 regular issues (about 600 articles) plus 28 complementary issues in the last three years. Web surfers can easily access this site from China.

The diversity and the volume of our internet publication have been most impressive among web journals and even some non-gay readers pointed out that our webzine is among the finest in the Chinese net world.

5. Despite its growing influence in China, why is CSSSM not so well known in the media? Has CSSSM chartered as a not-for-profit organization?

A few reasons account for the delay or reluctance in this regard. First of all, limited human resources have been preventing us from building CSSSM’s profile from a study group to a full- fledged rights advocate organization. All contributors are volunteers who can only devote time and energy in the evening and on weekends. We are not able to attend as many conferences or seminars as we like to expand our influence.

Secondly, the membership of CSSSM does not meet the requirement of for applying for a non- profit status. For example, no member in CSSSM is a US citizen.

Thirdly, as CSSSM is a professional study group which is more interested in establishing affiliations with professional organizations than deliberately seeking publicity in the press or in political conventions, many of which have been considered as anti-China not only by the Chinese government, but also by the Chinese people, including the gay community. Winning trust from the general public in China is pivotal to the success of CSSSM, so our low profile and “quiet diplomacy” quite reflect the needs of the people in China.

Fourthly, almost all of our work has been conducted in the Chinese language. Continuous contributions need the following prequisites: 1) social conscience, i.e., interest in gay studies or the gay movement; 2) Proficiency in the Chinese language, and also in the English language for translation; 2) access to internet.

CSSSM has been noted in public media in the past year, largely because of our growing influence. Members of CSSSM have been appearing as guests to give talk on Voice of America, which was telecast and broadcast to the entire China. A research report titled “The Falling Shephard: the Comparison between Abstinence-only Education and Safe-sex Education with a Factsheet of the Unification Church and Their Expansion in China” was completed by members of CSSSM to counter the penetration of the Unification Church in China, especially in the field of sex education. Members will also be attending a national conference on AIDS Prevention in the Gay Community, organized by the Ministry of Public Health in November, 2000..

6. How is CSSSM funded?

Currently the cost of operation has been covered by donations. All contributors work as volunteers and receive no compensation for their writing and translation. As we keep our operation cost at minimum, al funds so far have been channeled back to China to assist such programs as lesbigay hotlines and Friends Exchange, the only gay affirmative advocate by the medical profession in China. The expansion of our influence is contingent on available funds, so donations or information regarding funding sources are warmly welcome.

7. In what way can non-Chinese speakers contribute to the CSSSM work?

We strongly encourage professional groups here to have a dialogue with the corresponding groups in China who are much more receptive to opinions of their colleagues abroad than politicians abroad. The tradition for the respect of education and scholarship also renders more persuasion for professional groups. Both American Psychological Association and American Psychiatric Association have formally urged their Chinese counterparts, the Chinese Psychiatric Association (CPA) to adopt the depathologilization of homosexuality. The Task Force for the Demedicalization of Homosexuality, composed of members in CPA, responded very positively to this exchange of professional opinion. Chinese professionals have also been sent to the US to examine treatment of sexual minorities by the medical profession here.

The Chinese government encourages bilateral scholarly exchanges. Inviting researchers or scholars to China who are interested in gay studies will also help mobilize changes. Concerns can also be addressed by attending some professional seminars held in China. It is also a very good idea to invite Chinese researchers in gay studies to professional conferences abroad. There have been tens of thousands of scholars of gay studies in the west, but there are only five to six in China so far. If one more person emerges or matures in the mainland, it would contribute greatly to the gay liberation there.

The current situation in China very much resembles that in Europe or the United States in 50’s and early 60’s when homosexuality was considered a perversion by the public and by the the medical profession. Luckily so much information has been generated since then. CSSSM feels very privileged to be able to benefit from achievements here. While our work focus on disseminating information of gay studies, we hold that the gay rights movement does not need to be contingent upon whether being gay is a matter of nature or nurture, but a matter of civil rights, dignity and freedom.

E-mail: taohong@aol.com csssm@hotmail.com

Tel: (703) 876-0430