This Gay Couple Got "Married" After China Said They Couldn't
They might have lost a groundbreaking marriage equality suit in court, but their story isn’t over yet.
Same-sex marriage has yet to be legalized in China. But if we put aside the sheet of government-issued paper, a handful of Chinese same-sex couples have tied the knot, exchanged kisses, and got blessing from families — and they've just been joined by this handsome set.
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If their faces are a little familiar to you, good eye! They made headlines last month when their challenge to the official interpretation of Chinese marriage law — the first lawsuit in China to do so — failed.
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But their love for each other is unstoppable. So Hu Mingliang, 37, and Sun Wenlin, 27, exchanged rings in front of a big supportive crowd during a wedding ceremony in a ballroom in Changsha, in central China's Hunan province, on Tuesday.
The two had been dating for almost two years; they met online and fell in love at first sight.
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It was deeply, deeply emotional, especially considering the societal pressures that gay couples still face in China.
Only 5 percent of gay people come out of the closet to their families, according to a newly-released UN report on "Being LGBTI in China." The report, which the UN claimed to be the most comprehensive LGBTI report about China currently available, also concluded that support for marriage equality among non-LGBT people in China at 85 percent — a number more positive than other surveys have found. A 2015 BuzzFeed News/Ipsos Poll found the number at only 29 percent.
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