The current Dalai Lama believes that lesbian and gay sex are closed to his
school of Buddhism, in which they are depicted as "bad" forms of sexual
contact, although monogamous heterosexual recreational sex with birth control
is okay. However, it should be noted that he acknowledges that there is global
Buddhist debate on the subject, does not claim infallibility, although from
this perspective, lesbian and gay Buddhists are not "good" Buddhists. He also
stated he did not believe that homosexuality should be subject to criminal
sanctions.
As for China, it had a rich tradition of male homoerotic literature, with
accompanying candid artwork. Emperors, nobility, civil servants and peasants
all embraced same sex love, especially in cases of exemplary spousal fidelity
between partners and otherwise virtuous ethical conduct. Taoism and Chinese
Buddhism didn't concern themselves about regulating gay sex, and while
Confucianism was puritanical and family oriented, it was only intermittently
so.
Unfortunately, the Chinese Empire began to disintegrate in the nineteenth
century, leading to an influx of antigay western Christian proselytisers, as
well as unwelcome attention from rapidly modernising adjacent Japan, which
began a programme of aggressive colonial expansion on the East Asian mainland
after the First World War. When the last Manchu Emperor was deposed in 1912,
China descended into anarchy as powerful regional warlords struggled for
control. However, Shanghai and other eastern Chinese coastal cities developed
thriving gay subcultures. Japan and the United States came to blows over the
colonial and territorial ambitions of each, leading to the Pacific theatre of
the Second World War.
Spider Lillies: A lesbian-themed Chinese film
When that conflict ended with Japan's defeat, China had to endure four more
years of civil war between the conservative nationalist Kuomintang and Mao
Tse-Tung's communists, ending in victory for the latter in 1948. Maoist
marxist-leninism was strongly agrarian, and while male homosexuality and
lesbianism were not criminalised, they were considered 'bourgeois decadent' or
lumpen acts, and led to imprisonment within 're-education camps.' Metropolitan
gay and other intellectuals suffered during Mao's disastrous "Cultural
Revolution" of the sixties, due to its anti-urban and anti-intellectual bias.
After Mao died in 1976, China gradually embraced market capitalism, although
the Communist Party of China still does not permit meaningful political
pluralism. However, burgeoning trade, economic growth, technological
development, urbanisation and higher education have led to the regrowth of
Eastern Chinese lesbian and gay social networks, particularly in Shanghai.
Due to the arrival of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Chinese health authorities have
abandoned their earlier homophobic stance. The Chinese Psychological
Association has not considered homosexuality to be a 'psychopathology' since
1994, and while there are no autonomous LGBT rights groups, Beijing has had to
recognise LGBT social networks to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, China
has no national anti-discrimination laws, nor does it extend legal recognition
to lesbian and gay couples.
As for Tibet, China has occupied that territory continuously for more than
sixty years now. It has suppressed uprisings, such as that in 1968, but as
China has become an economic and military superpower over the last twenty
years, it has faced increasing western criticism of its internal human rights
abuses, exploitative labour practices, environmental degradation and other
foreign policy concerns. In addition to the thorny issue of Tibet, we would do
well to remember Beijing's support for the current military dictatorship in
Burma, and its arms shipments to Sudan's repressive and racist Islamist
government, which has resulted in the Darfur humanitarian crisis.
However, it is Tibet which has aroused sympathy, due to export of its
indigenous spiritual traditions to the west, as well as the charismatic and
articulate leadership of the Dalai Lama. Unfortunately, no tidy resolution to
that troubled nation's suffering is immediately obvious.
