A huge red flag has just been flown in China for its LGBTQ citizens.
A court has just ruled that homosexuality could be considered “a psychosexual disorder,” according to the South China Morning Post. Specifically, a Chinese court ruled that a textbook’s description of homosexuality as “a psychosexual disorder” is not a factual error but an “academic view.”
The court case began in 2016 when South China Agricultural University freshman Ou Jiayong, nicknamed Xixi, found a psychology book with the description. The 2013 edition of Mental Health Education for College Student not only listed homosexuality as a “common psychosexual disorder,” but it also states that homosexuality is “a disruption of love and sex or perversion of the sex partner.”
In 2017, Xixi sued the publisher of the textbook and online retailer JD.com that stocks it. Xixi and her lawyers demanded the removal of the description. Unfortunately, 2020 saw the Suyu District People’s Court ruling in favor of the publishing house. The court ruled that Xixi’s opposition was based on a difference of opinion.
Xixi, who’s now a social worker working in Hong Kong, then appealed the ruling. Unfortunately, the ruling was then upheld by the Suqian Intermediate People’s Court last week.
“Maybe this ruling is to reduce controversy,” Xixi said after the decision. “But it has also allowed textbooks that pathologise homosexuality to continue circulating, which is a pity.”
Several LGBTQ rights groups have also condemned the decision, according to the New York Post.
Ah Qiang, a spokesperson for PFLAG, said in a statement, “The editor of the textbook apparently used viewpoints that do not match society’s perception of sexual minorities today.”
This ruling goes against the opinions of most reputable academic and psychological organizations. This includes China’s own government. China decriminalized homosexuality in 1997 and the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders ended the classification of homosexuality as a mental illness in 2001.
Source: South China Morning Post, New York Post,
