Changsha gay parade inspires war veteran to appeal 1969 male rape conviction

Inspired by gay rights activists, a war veteran from Hunan has said he wants to clear his name more than 40 years after he was convicted of raping 11 men, a crime he said he did not commit. 

The 81-year-old man, surnamed Li, told the South China Morning Post that he has returned to the thought of seeking justice several times in the past years, but legal fees and potential media attention had given the retiree pause. 

The accusations came in 1969, five years after Li retired from the military and while he was working as an engineer at a geology camp in Shaanxi province. There, he had befriended a roommate, Deng, and they occasionally engaged in mutual sex.

“We were not the only people who were doing this,” Li said, adding that he was married at that time and he knew he was not gay, but his relations with Deng fulfilled his “physical needs”.

A supervisor, nicknamed Fox, later heard about Li’s relationship with Deng. Around the same time, Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution was aiming to “purify class ranks”.

Fox allegedly jumped on the opportunity and accused Li of raping 11 men. Li said he had been tortured to admit to the “crimes” made up by the supervisor for his own political agenda.