Weibo Cracks Down On Homosexuals As #IAmGay Trends

China Crack Down On Homosexuality on Weibo Sparks #IAmGay backlash

It’s not much of a secret to suggest that in China, the state like to take a rather heavy hand in the media. Even their own social media platform Weibo is largely (if not entirely) state-controlled.

As often comes with such stringent controls, usually what the state likes stays and what it doesn’t is applied with an iron fist. As part of the Chinese ‘moral standards,’ they have a pretty low opinion and tolerance of homosexuality.

So, why am I bothering to tell you this? Well, in a report via SkyNews, the social media site has launched a crackdown on homosexual members. As part of the “clean-up campaign,” a lot of homosexual material (which they consider illegal) has been removed from the website. In answer though, the hashtag #IAmGay is now trending in China.

China on homosexuality

Just to be clear, homosexuality is not illegal in China. It is, however, a bit of a grey area. There are actually no homosexuality laws in China. It’s almost a case of that the state chooses to not acknowledge it, probably in the hope that it’ll just go away. Think of it being back in Britain in the 1950’s.

Following the crackdown, which has seen a large number of images, comments and manga removed, the public is clearly not happy. It is reported that around 170,000 people have taken to Weibo to protest the matter, the state, however, has been working hard to delete many critical posts.

Being a socialist homosexual isn’t possible, in China at least. The move comes just months after China banned Winnie the Pooh images on Weibo. Apparently, he bears a resemblance to their current chairman.

What do you think about this? Is the Chinese government making an error here? Exactly how open do you think social media is there? In addition, can you see more backlash from this? – Let us know in the comments!