In the past decade, homosexuality has been understood and accepted as a choice of gender in many countries. However, there still is some hatred and discrimination against gayness in some part of the world and they even proposed theory that this taste can be retained. According to “China: Gay student sues ministry over textbooks”, a university student decided to take legal action after found that some of textbooks in library indicate that homosexuality is a “disorder” and it could be cured by electroshock therapy. Actually, since 2001, China stopped distinguish gayness as a mental disorder, and these textbooks are printed after that year, so the student hope the court will order to remove the textbooks. One gay student also said this textbook make him horrified and scared.
When I read through this article, many different feeling was sparked in my mind. As I’ve already known that homosexuality is considered abnormality in Middle east, Russia and some Asian country, I’m not surprised that it was judged to be a mental disorder in their textbook. However, it attacked me with the fact that the therapy they suggested is shocking the patients with electricity, which is seem like the method that people in 100 years ago. I wondered what will be written in the textbook of the countries where being gay mean you will be sentenced to death ? I bet it will be much worse and harsher.
Another feeling is that, I just realize China just removed homosexuality out of mental disorder list in 2001. But, I assumed that many gays in China are still afraid to come out because of social value and social status. One of my friends told me that one of Chinese virtue for children are that they should reproduce in order to maintain their family bloodline. This means the gays will be considered ungrateful. (Actually, a few Thai parents still have the same belief that the boy who can’t enter the monkhood once in their life are fail to accomplish their role as a son).
Do you think what will happen next about Homosexuality discrimination in China and the rest of the world ? Will it getting better ? and what we can do to promote such changes since maybe there will be more “Rainbow Panda” in the near future?
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Currently, homosexuality discrimination has existed and been controversial issue in many countries. Still, as we might see from the news, some countries has attempted to address such discrimination with different approaches; for instance, revising new laws for the rights of homosexuality such as same-sex marriage. In China, it may be difficult to see the future positive change of the present attitude about homosexuality because of deep-seated cultural codes and beliefs instilled by ancient tradition for a long time.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, to think in another aspect, third gender is probably common in the law of nature. In turn, human’s point of view and beliefs are the things posing and defining the acceptable sexes in our society, discriminating between inborn gender and transgender.
China is not the only country with laws that are prejudiced and unjust when it comes to the state controlling people's sex lives.
ReplyDeleteNot so long ago, when I was in high school, Australian law also criminalized gay sex, and Australia has still not changed its laws to allow same sex marriage. This seems to me nothing more than prejudice: in the case of Australia, backed up by Christian religious teaching in the Bible. And this shows that the majority was also wrong about the moral issues here, just as majorities had long been wrong about slavery. For thousands of years, social customs, tradition, religions and the rest taught that slavery was morally right and natural, even Aristotle agreed with this, and he was as wrong about the morality of slavery and the inferiority of non-Greeks as he was about the Earth being at the centre of the universe.
The Chinese have morally wrong beliefs about same sex marriage, and Chinese law is now unjust as a result. But I'm sure everyone can think of examples of laws that are unjust, that are in need of change to bring them into line with good morals. In the meantime, it is for China to decide on its own laws, not me or the US or anyone else. But we can help by explaining the moral failures and helping the Chinese people to better understand the issues here. Naturally, governments that hate good morals ban free speech and censor what can be said to prevent their citizens having opinions that are well founded on many topics.