Beijing's Gay Community Fights Censorship (Time)
When the Beijing LGBT Center screened a prerecorded lecture on gay-themed movies last year, the venue was so packed that latecomers had to jostle for a spot on the windowsills of the rented classroom doubling as their makeshift theater. This year, however, a similar event attracted only a handful of people, leaving much of the same room empty. The organizers soon realized their online announcements never reached the community. Soon after, other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) groups reported that their posts were disappearing from Douban, ostensibly one of China's most liberal social-networking websites. They have since banded together to boycott the site.
Douban, once a popular online platform among China's growing gay community, has yet to directly address the complaint. A spokesperson told state media that the company "doesn't welcome any remarks of discrimination and hatred toward race, religion ... or sexual orientation," but declined to comment further. However gay-rights activists see it as part of an on-again, off-again crackdown on the LGBT community. "My feeling is that the level of censorship right now has slightly improved from its worst," says Wang Qing, 26, a spokeswoman for the Beijing LGBT Center. "It's better than a month ago when they basically wouldn't publish any of our messages. Now they are letting through a selected few."
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Complete article at Time : http://ti.me/iCUTu8
