Beijing LGBT Center has shut down. In a statement issued on Monday, the Center said that it would stop operating ‘due to uncontrollable forces’. Founded in 2008, the Centre had just celebrated its fifteenth anniversary last week. Relying largely on individual donors and volunteers, it has advocated against discrimination, provided medical and mental support for members of the community, hosted public speakers, film screenings and other events.
Since 2016, the Chinese government has tightened its control over expressions of sexual diversity, issuing a policy that bans all homosexual depictions on television, along with other ‘vulgar, immoral and unhealthy content’. Several LGBTQ+ organisations, such as LGBT Rights Advocacy China and Shanghai Pride have also ceased to operate in the past two years.
