Three billboards outside Nanjing, Jiangsu: Chinese artist takes aim at gay ‘conversion therapy’
- Trucks with huge banners have made their way through the streets of Shanghai and Nanjing, with more protests to follow
- ‘Clinic’ offering therapy to ‘turn straight people gay’ also opens in Shenzhen
On a hazy day this week, a convoy of three white trucks is making its way through the streets of Nanjing, in eastern China. They are covered in huge red banners with black lettering that look like billboards from a distance.
“Treating a ‘disease’ that doesn’t exist,” reads one.
“Chinese classification of mental disorders still includes ‘sexual orientation disorder’,” says another.
And the third simply asks: “For 19 years, why?”
They slowly take their message across the Yangtze River, through a vine-covered ancient gateway, and past the New Street district, bustling with shoppers and office workers.
When they reach Renkang Hospital, the trucks stop and 28-year-old Wu Qiong gets out – he has an appointment for “conversion therapy”.
In a consulting room, he tells psychologist Dr Ma Ke that he is afraid to tell his parents he is gay and wants to “turn straight”. The psychologist tells him not to worry. “It can be cured, as long as you have a strong will,” Ma says, before diagnosing Wu with “sexual orientation disorder”.