Why Did the U.S. Same-sex Marriage Decision Excite Chinese Millenials?

With the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on June 26 in favor of the right for same-sex couples to marry under the U.S. Constitution across all 50 states, a tidal wave of celebration among America’s LGBT communities and their supporters washed through social media, even flowing from America’s Golden Gate Bridge across the Pacific to the shores of China. No sooner had the proclamation been issued by the SCOTUS than a multitude of reposts concerning the news appeared across Chinese social media networks such as WeChat (similar to WhatsApp) and Weibo (China’s version of Twitter). Many wrote congratulatory or complimentary words with their re­posts, some even commending the decision as a “truly historic human victory.” However, a large proportion of those cheering the news in China – a country where same-sex relationships still suffer under considerable social stigma – do not belong to the coun­try’s LGBT community. So what is motivating straight Chinese people to celebrate a new age in the U.S.? China is no different from much of the developed and newly-industrialized world in that there is a growing acceptance of homosexuality among urban young people. This largely-educated demographic is also more likely to be active online, enlivened by the benign Internet atmosphere when discussing gay issues and films. An obvious difference from the social landscape of, say, 10 years […]