A spokesman for China’s parliament’s legal affairs commission stated that China’s law only allows for marriage between a man and a woman on August 21.
“This rule suits our country’s national condition and historical and cultural traditions,” said Zang Tiewei, the spokesman for the Commission of Legislative Affairs of the NPC Standing Committee, reported the media.
“As far as I know, the vast majority of countries in the world do not recognize the legalization of same-sex marriage,” he added.
Proposed measures for same-sex marriage in China have occasionally presented to legislatures but have failed.
New codes governing marriage, divorce and family planning, and sexual harassment are anticipated the be passed next year, reported the Post. LGBT rights are not included in the new laws drafted by lawmakers.
The country’s major cities have thriving gay scenes and same-sex marriage became legal in Taiwan in May. China claims the autonomous island territory as its own, but Taiwan debates mainland China’s governance.
Homosexuality was decriminalized by China in 1997. The country doesn’t have laws against or protecting LGBT citizens. Four years later, the Chinses Society of Psychiatry declassified homosexuality from being considered a mental health illness, reported The Week. However, the country’s government continues to crackdown on LGBT organizations and media and the country’s National Health and Family Planning Commission continues to offer conversion therapy.
Earlier this month the Bay Area Reporter reported that two gay men in Beijing circumvented China’s laws utilizing a loophole allowing for adults to appoint legal guardians for themselves.
The Chinese parliament spokesperson’s announcement disappointed Chinese gay rights activist Sun Wenlin, but he wasn’t surprised he told the Post. In 2015, he lost an application to legally marry his partner in a Chinese court case.
“I feel that my partner and I are sacrificing our happiness for the country’s legal system,” said Sun told the newspaper.
“They are undermining our life plan of choosing to marry the person we love,” he continued. “I feel I am being excluded and am absolutely not a consideration for policymakers.”
It’s estimated China’s LGBT population is 70 million people.
Evan Wolfson, founder and president of US-based Freedom to Marry, told the Gay City News that he wasn’t buying China’s argument.
“Instead of selectively invoking China’s ‘traditions’ — including marriage of one man dominating many women — I think the Chinese government will want to study the progress underway among its neighbors and worldwide and listen to the aspirations of Chinese young people to see the country move forward,” he said.
Wolfson, who contributed to Taiwan’s same-sex marriage battle, added that China’s LGBT community, family and friends, and co-workers “deserve nothing less” than to allow “gay people to participate alongside others as they build lives.”
He pointed to the 1.1 billion people living in 28 countries around the world where same-sex marriage is legal demonstrating the benefits, he told GCN.
