China | Chaguan

Why the Communist Party fears gay rights

Social conservatism plus paranoia about foreign infiltration prompts a crackdown

These are grim and lonely times for China’s gay communities, as the country’s LGBT support groups are forced to close, one by one. This campaign of repression reveals a lot about President Xi Jinping’s China, a paranoid place in which security agencies and ideological commissars enjoy ever-greater clout.

This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “Why China’s rulers fear gay rights”

From the May 27th 2023 edition

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