Does China’s response to LGBT couple in Tmall advert signal acceptance?
- Clip for shopping event includes a gay couple going home to their families for Lunar New Year
- LGBT representation in Chinese media is rare, with LGBT content and discussion regularly censored
The 20-second clip released this week, promoting the site’s annual pre-Lunar New Year shopping event that ends on Friday, features a gay man introducing his partner to his family.
The clip had racked up thousands of views and hundreds of supportive comments on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, suggesting that Chinese audiences are increasingly accepting of the LGBT community.
Chinese LGBT advocates have welcomed the advert as a positive step for the community, but warned that it may take a while before LGBT representation becomes truly accepted.
“This is only a single case and not widespread, so it’s hard to say that it represents progress,” said Yang Yi, media officer at the China Rainbow Media Awards, a non-profit dedicated to promoting LGBT visibility in the media.