Beijing LGBT Center

The Beijing LGBT Center was founded in 2008 as a cultural outlet for various LGBT service organizations based in Beijing. In its early days, its primary mission was to organize cultural activities, aiming to address a perceived lack of stability and unity within the local LGBT community.[6] Following the departure of its original sponsors, the center hired new staff and transitioned into an independent organization with a renewed focus on advocating for LGBT rights.[7]

A small library collection at the center, featuring a protest sign from 2014 with the message "homosexuality does not need to be treated" (同性恋不需要被治疗).[8]

One of the center's first advocacy initiatives involved educating psychologists in China about conversion therapy.[7] In 2014, the center helped Yang Teng, a gay man, prepare a case against a clinic in Chongqing that had provided him with conversion therapy that included electroshock therapy. The case was successful, and a local court in Beijing eventually declared conversion therapy for "curing" gay people to be illegal altogether.[9][10] Still, the practice of conversion therapy persisted in China. Center employee John Shen and others later went undercover for a 2015 episode of Channel 4's Unreported World, revealing that hospitals continued to provide electroconvulsive conversion therapy.[11][12]

The center's research efforts included the administration of the Chinese Gender and Sexual Minorities Psychological Health Survey and a 2017 survey with Peking University on the mental health of transgender Chinese people.[13][14] Other forms of activism organized by the center were meant to replace pride parades, which were frequently forbidden by authorities.[7] One example was a protest of Weibo's planned ban on gay content, in which volunteers wearing blindfolds and t-shirts reading "I am gay" stood with their arms out and solicited hugs from passersby.[15][7][16] The center also partnered with photographer Teo Butturini to create Humans of New York-style portraits of LGBT individuals living in China.[17]

The Beijing LGBT Center had faced ongoing challenges to stay open, with obstacles arising from both funding limitations and political pressure. LGBTQ groups cannot register as non-governmental organizations in China, making it difficult to obtain government approval for events and secure external funding.[7][5] To overcome its financial hurdles, the center organized fundraising events at local bars and received direct financial support from the Los Angeles LGBT Center.[6] Amidst a crackdown on organizations with names containing "homosexuality", "association", and "rights", the center changed its official Chinese name to the portmanteau "北同文化" (lit. 'Beijing homo-culture') in 2021.[18][19] The center also faced pressure from its landlords and was forced to relocate multiple times.[20]

In May 2023, the Beijing LGBT Center announced on its Weibo account that it will be suspending operations after 15 years, citing "forces beyond control" as the only reason.[21][22] This closure was unexpected and came only a week after the center had published an article commemorating its 15 years of dedicated work.[5] ShanghaiPRIDE, one of China’s longest running gay pride groups, and university LGBT spaces across China have faced similar abrupt shutdowns since 2020.[23][24]

• Homosexuality in China
• LGBT culture in Beijing
• LGBT rights in China