Gay marriage isn't legal in China, and it won't be any time soon. But thanks to the U.S Supreme Court, and its decision last week to legalize same-sex unions, the subject is suddenly a national topic of conversation. Leading newspapers and academics are weighing in, Chinese social media — the surest barometer of Chinese middle-class opinion — are awash with posts and tweets, and Chinese e-commerce companies are posting gay-pride rainbow flags on their sites. After going down in the U.S. history books, Obergefell v Hodges could one day enter China's.
At the very least, the case has given China's gay rights discussion a needed jolt. Homosexuality was only decriminalized in China in 1997 and removed from China's official list of mental illnesses in 2001. Since then, homosexuality in China has been treated with an approach informally known as "the three nots": not approved, not disapproved, not promoted.
But even in the absence of government pressure, cultural prejudices remain. Traditional Chinese culture emphasizes the importance of continuing family lines, and a child's first duty is understood to be providing his parents a grandchild. For gay Chinese, those expectations can be suffocating, leading to the widespread proliferation of "fake marriages" whereby gay Chinese marry people of the opposite gender and have children to satisfy their parents. Chinese state media, which tends to downplay gay life in China, has estimated that there are currently between 10 million to 16 million such relationships in the country.