Re: “Nelson vigil held for Orlando massacre victims”
It is stated that Nelson-Creston MLA Michelle Mungall shared the story of a Chinese exchange student she had met at the Nelson Food Cupboard. She said he did not want to return to China because “he couldn’t be who he was and love who he wanted to openly in that country.”
In fact, I would quote as stated in the following from utopia-asia.com/tipschin.htm: “In April 2001, homosexuality was deleted from the Chinese classification of mental disorders. China has joined a growing number of Asian countries which have rejected outdated Western notions that homosexuality was a mental disorder. China and Japan both have many literary references to socially accepted homosexual traditions in their long histories. Homosexuality is not illegal in China. Paying for sex is. Do not pay for sex under any circumstances or you may be subject to blackmail or worse. Respect the law while you are a guest in China.”
This website goes on to list many resources and services specifically for gay and lesbian individuals in many cities in China.
I am sure that the young man in question has experienced discrimination, and lack of acceptance in his own country for being gay, as many others have in our own country, including even here in Nelson. But to imply that a whole country, and all in it, reject those who are gay or lesbian is simply not accurate. And in and of itself is discriminatory.
Jean Jones, Nelson