Marriage proposal in subway car heats up debate on gay marriage in China

A marriage proposal sparked intense debate in social media in China. That's because it was made from one man to another.

The place did not seem like the most romantic in the world to do "" question, but when a man knelt in front of her boyfriend inside a Beijing subway car, passengers pulled out their smartphones to record the event.

Thousands of users of Weibo, the main Chinese social media tool, have been mentioning the episode. A video was posted by the user Bai Yiyan Vina.

"I was, as usual, taking the train home, but found unexpectedly a couple in love. It was amazing!"

The two men can not marry in China. The law of the country does not provide for same-sex unions, but Chinese couples have traveled to get married in the US, including seven of them won a contest sponsored by the online retail giant Alibaba.

And while some passengers on the subway have shouted slogans against the couple, most comments on Weibo showed support to romantic request.

Cultural differences

"To those who called (the episode) of disgusting: you are not qualified to judge others," was a comment tanned more than 600 times. Another popular post praised the couple for the courage to express their feelings. A smaller proportion of users disagreed and some women took the opportunity to lament his bad luck in finding a partner.

In July, the decision of the US Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage had great repercussion in China. But the two countries have very different dynamics in the political approach on the issue of the rights of sexual minorities, according to Timothy Hildebrandt, professor of social sciences department of the London School of Economics and scholar of the LGBT movement in China.

"In the US, the divisions on the subject have religious character. In China, people are homophobic, this is not part of a doctrine," explains Hildebrandt.

The teacher explains that the attitude of the Chinese toward homosexuality vary greatly. There are from those who have never met an openly gay or transsexual person and not even know what is homosexuality to those who believe it does not exist in China. At the same time, however, there is growing acceptance of gays, transsexuals and transgender people in urban areas.

In 2001, homosexuality was removed from the list of mental illnesses the Chinese Psychiatric Association. HIV prevention campaigns offered to gay groups likely to talk about their problems. But Hildebrandt points out that the effects of the "one child policy" China - which for decades has fined couples who have more than one child - increased pressure on only children.

Hildebrandt, many parents see the fact that his only child being gay as the end of the dream of having grandchildren. "It's a disproportionate pressure on gays. But attitudes are changing, as well as the rest of the world. Through social media, people in China are learning about LGBT rights," he adds.