Three slogan-bearing trucks are going from Shanghai to Nanjing as part of a campaign run by three gay rights promoters to protest alleged sexual orientation conversion therapies in China.
Chinese artist Wu Laobai and Lin He, a gay policeman, and Zheng Hongbin, organizers of the campaign called Lovers, hired three slogan-bearing trucks which passed through downtown areas in Shanghai and arrived in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province on Sunday, which is designed to raise public awareness of the liberty and equality of sexual orientation.
The Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders-3rd edition (CCMD-3) released by the Chinese Medical Association's psychiatric branch, a non-government medical organization, removed homosexuality for the first time in the country in 2001, which was hailed by the Chinese LGBT community, including Zheng, as a milestone.
''To cure a 'disease' that does not exist?' says the first one. "'The diagnostic criteria for mental disorders in China still retain 'Sexual Orientation Disorder' says another. 'It's been 19 years, why?' says the final one, referring to the 2001 regulation, according to photos published on Wu's Sina Weibo account.
Aside from the three trucks, the campaign also includes reaching out to doctors, Zheng told Global Times on Sunday.
"We picked conversion therapy centers in hospitals and clinics from a 'heat map' and have successfully communicated with doctors in Shanghai," Zheng said.
Read more via Global Times
Three billboards outside Nanjing, Jiangsu: Chinese artist takes aim at gay ‘conversion therapy’
On a hazy day this week, a convoy of three white trucks is making its way through the streets of Nanjing, in eastern China. They are covered in huge red banners with black lettering that look like billboards from a distance.
“Treating a ‘disease’ that doesn’t exist,” reads one.
“Chinese classification of mental disorders still includes ‘sexual orientation disorder’,” says another.
And the third simply asks: “For 19 years, why?”
They slowly take their message across the Yangtze River, through a vine-covered ancient gateway, and past the New Street district, bustling with shoppers and office workers.
When they reach Renkang Hospital, the trucks stop and 28-year-old Wu Qiong gets out – he has an appointment for “conversion therapy”.
In a consulting room, he tells psychologist Dr Ma Ke that he is afraid to tell his parents he is gay and wants to “turn straight”. The psychologist tells him not to worry. “It can be cured, as long as you have a strong will,” Ma says, before diagnosing Wu with “sexual orientation disorder”.
He offers three treatment plans to “completely change” Wu in 10 to 15 days – through cognitive behaviour therapy, aversion therapy or medication combined with the use of a helmet-like device to improve “brain balance”.
Wu is sceptical, but Ma is quick to reassure the young man that he is an expert in the area.
But Wu is not gay, and he is not really there for treatment. He is an artist from Shenzhen and this is part of an elaborate protest he came up with last year, Wu tells the South China Morning Post.
In China, homosexuality was illegal until 1997 and was removed from the list of mental disorders only in 2001. Social attitudes towards homosexuality remain generally closed, in part due to a traditional Confucian emphasis on marriage and having children, creating barriers that keep most gays in the closet. Although the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community is estimated at 70 million people and vibrant gay scenes do exist in the mainland’s large cities, for many it is a struggle to be accepted. And stories are rife of families forcing their relatives to have so-called conversion therapy.
Raising awareness
Wu got the idea for the protest after meeting up with a friend in May. They had messaged on the social network WeChat for some time but had never actually met in person. Read more via South China Morning Post