Families, tradition, solidarity. Chinese reflections on Family

A story from Chinese activist Xiaogang Wei coming to you for #IDAHOT #IFED2017
I’ve been hearing many stories about LGBT people coming out to their families for more than a decade since working at a Chinese LGBT nonprofit organization. The delightful, the enraged, and the sorrowful stories, I heard all kinds of. In a country that just bid farewell to the one-child policy that has been implemented for 40 years while still paying special attention to the traditional family lineage, coming-out to families is still burdensome for most of Chinese LGBT people. Whereas for a majority of Chinese families that have already accepted their LGBT family members, the biggest concern is that he or she will probably die alone without social and legal recognition. Hence whether family and society accept Chinese LGBT people or not is a tremendously important issue. I still remember that when I came out to my parents more than ten years ago, my mother burst into tears because she feared that no family would take care of me after she gets old. On this day of May 17th, I deeply hope every one of us can proudly accept our family members for being their true selves. In the meantime, I appeal to the Chinese government to grant equal rights to everyone so that any member of the family, whatever is sexual orientation is, is recognized by the law.