China activist detained on International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia

Xiang Yuhan, 19,  has been detained for at least twelve days in the southern Chinese city of Changsha by authorities after he organized a rally on the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia, reports Voice of America. The young activist was detained shortly after police showed up at his hotel room. In China, a person can be held against his will for up to 30 days without a trial.

“He’s been put under administrative detention for 12 days on charges of organizing an illegal rally.  His mother is mentally ill and he looks after her.  We’ve asked authorities to cut short his detention,” said his lawyer, Lin Qilei.

Despite rallies in other Chinese cities – including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou – no other arrests have been reported.

The event, an annual event celebrated every May 17, is coordinated by the Paris-based “IDAHOBIT Committee”, founded and presided over by Frenchman Louis-Georges Tin. The day aims to coordinate international events that raise awareness of LGBT rights violations and stimulate interest in LGBT rights work. (May 17 was the day that homosexuality was removed from the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1990.)

Many argue that Yuhan was singled out because of his high visibility in a country struggling with the still-taboo subject of homosexuality. “Gay couples still face much discrimination in China, due to the lack of a legal recognition of their union,” said Beijing layer Huang Yizhi.  “For example, in Shanghai, homosexual couples are barred from purchasing a house because they cannot marry.”

Moreover, a recent ruling in Hong Kong, a special province of China, declared that its definition of a ‘woman’ – as it relates to marriage – must include a ‘postoperative male-to-female transsexual person.’ Many fear that the decision is the first step in the legal recognition of same-sex marriage, a cause that Yuhan strongly believes in and has agitated for in the slow-changing culture that is China.