The Free

Qiuyan Chen sued the Chinese ministry of education over homophobic textbooks. She writes about her battle for LGBTQ+ rights in China and the UK

February 25, 2022 · 6 min read

Qiuyan Chen outside the Intermediate People’s Court in Beijing in 2015. Photo credit: Qiuyan Chen

On 16 July 2021, 18 LGBTQ+ public accounts run by the members of ‘underground’ student rainbow societies were shut down by WeChat. These accounts now only appear on the app as ‘unnamed’. When supporters voiced their anger about the closure on social media, their posts were swiftly deleted and some of their accounts were also shut down.

The closure of LGBTQ+ led social media accounts marks another turn in the long-term suppression of grassroots LGBTQ+ groups by public authorities in China. It is a concerning time for queer activists. How can we possibly promote LGBTQ+ rights in this context? How can we forge a space for ourselves in a society dominated by cisgenderism and heterosexuality?

Censorship on campus

I enrolled for undergraduate study at Sun Yat-sen University which, in 2006, set up the first rainbow society in mainland China. The university offered a public elective course on ‘social culture and gender diversity’, it had a ‘vagina monologues’ group, and so on. Despite the fact that these courses and groups were banned from campus by the university, those stories like seeds, were planted in my heart already.

In 2014, as a fresher, I discovered that the textbooks used in school described homosexuality as a form of mental illness.

Although homosexuality has been removed from the list of mental illness in 2001, there were still plenty of stigmatised depictions of homosexuality and bisexuality in psychology, mental health, and medical textbooks published in mainland China.

The descriptions in these books typically stated that ‘homosexuality represents a sexual orientation disorder’, ‘being bisexual means being homosexual while being heterosexual at different occasions’ and ‘being gay degrades social morality.’

I decided to push for the correction of these homophobic texts. After failed attempts at engaging with editors, publishers and librarians, I chose to purse change through the courts. I sued the Chinese education ministry three times between 2015 and 2017, and tried to sue individual publishers on a number of occasions.

Continue reading “Fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in China”

 The cities of Manbij and Kobani witnessed a series of activities within the framework of the activities organized by women’s institutions on the 8th of March, International Women’s Day.

https://www.hawarnews.com WOMAN 2022-03-01  Manbij

The Young Women’s Union organized, today, at the beginning of March, in the city of Manbij, a free women’s tent, under the slogan “Let’s unite to take revenge and defeat the occupation”, in the Sabaa Bahrat roundabout, west of the city.

 The event began by a minute, and then the administrator of the Young Women’s Union welcomed Sedana Hannoush to attend and congratulated all women on the International Women’s Day.

 It was followed by a speech on behalf of the Military Women’s Council delivered by Fatima Muhammad, who said, “On behalf of the Manbij Military Council, we extend our warmest congratulations and bless all women in the world, on the advent of International Women’s Day at the beginning of spring, and we wish a good year”

 Then the co-chair of the Circassian Association, Taleen Najm Al-Din, delivered a speech on behalf of civil society organizations, in which she said, “In the spirit of women’s struggle for peace and freedom, we welcome the International Women’s Day, and congratulate all women who represent the hope of humanity for their efforts.”

 The administrator of the Relations Office of the Syrian Women’s Council, Rola Othman, also delivered a speech in which she said, “In my name and in the name of the Syrian Women’s Council, I congratulate and congratulate the approaching (International Women’s Day), which falls on the eighth of March, which is celebrated by the whole world. Women are the loud voice in society.  striving for equality between men and women.

 Then, a member of the Training Committee at the Zenobia Women’s Gathering Office, Heba Al-Ahmad, congratulated all the women of north and east Syria and the women of the whole world on this day, the eighth of March. The woman, despite all the difficulties is still strong and resistant.

 The event also included a cycling race for girls.

 Kobani

 In the context, the Golden Crescent Movement in the Kobani canton made a statement to the public opinion in which it congratulated the International Women’s Day, which falls on March 8 of this month, and the statement pledged to follow in the footsteps of the martyrs of women’s freedom and highlight their resistance and heroism through art.

Continue reading “Series of activities on International Women’s Day in Euphrates region”

4 March, 2022 in CNT, Feminism: Leer en Español (Spanish)

Tired of fully and without resources bearing the responsibility of care.  Fed up with the sexual division of labor that feminizes sectors, making them more precarious and invisible (cleaning, food, socio-health, education, etc.), despite being essential to the workings of this system.

It’s already been 2 years of managing the Covid-19 pandemic, and in this time it has been shown over and over again that each crisis hits women hard.

The drop that overflowed the cup…The last straw

We are overwhelmed and fed up because we still do not see any change that ends the salary gap, because the precariousness and lack of hiring of women continues to worsen.  It is a fact that women take more unpaid leave to take care of care and that we are the ones who, in extreme cases, decide not to join the labor market to care for the people who depend on us. 

ly full days, etc.The majority of resident migrant women are unemployed or do not have a regular employment contract, and many are in an irregular administrative situation.  We must put an end to the labor exploitation to which these women are subjected, who do not report for fear of being expelled, and demand that the Government regularize them.

The Special Scheme for Domestic Employees is slavery, without the right to unemployment benefit, without access to the law of labor risks.  The dismissal is without notice or compensation, not to mention the impossibility of requesting leave or permission for fear of dismissal.  

There is also no right of readmission, as is the case in other sectors.We cannot forget the mistreatment and abuse suffered by female employees in some workplaces.What to say about the robbery of our pensions.  

Stop union repression! Thousands rally in Gijon against the latest attack on workers’ rights

The achievement that the “most progressive government in history” sells us, together with the union ministries, is nothing more than the scam of the revaluation of pensions and one more step in the privatization of the public pension system.

Continue reading “[CNT] Working women are overwhelmed. And we are fed up”

from – Turkish Minute shared with thanks

The İstanbul Governor’s Office has announced that no demonstrations or marches will be allowed to mark International Women’s Day in İstanbul’s Taksim neighborhood on March 8, Turkish media outlets reported.

Thousands of protesters have been marching along İstiklal Street in Taksim on the night of March 8 since 2003 to denounce violence against women in Turkey, where at least 280 women were killed last year, and demand equal rights for women.

March 3 2021

The “Feminist Night March” has witnessed confrontations between protestors and police in past years as the police wanted to prevent the protestors from holding the march.

The İstanbul police briefly detained 17 protestors who took part in the women’s day march in Taksim last year on the grounds that they insulted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan with the slogans they chanted.

international-women-s-day-in-turkey-marked-by-police-intervention- 2021

Despite facing similar bans from the governor’s office in the past, the organizers held the march and said they will go ahead with their plan this year as well.

“Despite all obstacles every year, we will take part in the Feminist Night March to stand up for our rights, lives, existence, equality and our labor.

We have walked for 19 years and will do so in the 20^th,” according to a Twitter account that posts announcements and news about the march.