Letter to first lady Peng Liyuan urges support for gay rights

A group of parents of gay and lesbian children has delivered a letter to China’s first lady Peng Liyuan, calling for legislation against gay discrimination and for increased tolerance of homosexuality.

The letter, delivered by express mail, was signed for on Tuesday by a member of staff in People’s Liberation Army Academy of Arts, where Peng, a WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Tuberculosis and HIV/Aids, served as its rector. Earlier, China’s State Council AIDS Working Committee had announced that the agenda of this year’s World Aids Day (WAD) on December 1 would be “Getting to zero: zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero Aids-related deaths”.

The group in the letter said that through their volunteer work with the gay and lesbian community and their own families, they had learnt that the gay male community had a higher rate of HIV infection than average.

“Among a multitude of factors, social prejudice and discrimination are important reasons,” they wrote. “As mothers, upon finding out that our children are LGBT, we have felt alarmed, at a loss, and even momentarily given up all hope.

“But what we think about the most still remains: will our children suffer discrimination within society?”

One of the five authors of the letter Dong Wanwan, 50, from Shenzhen city, said she admired Peng’s role as the Goodwill Ambassador, especially her recent appearance in a public interest film.