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LGBT Activists in China Seek to Change Marriage Civil Code

Associated Press

   BEIJING - It was only after her partner's death that He Meili realized
   the full meaning of marriage.

   As a lesbian couple in China, He and Li Qin kept their ties largely
   unspoken, sometimes introducing themselves as cousins. This rarely
   bothered He until Li succumbed to complications from lupus in 2016, and
   Li's parents demanded that He hand over the deed for their apartment
   and other property documents under Li's name.

   He, a 51-year-old nonprofit worker in southern China's Guangzhou city,
   has joined LGBT activists and supporters in an appeal to lawmakers to
   allow same-sex marriage, using a state-sanctioned channel to skirt
   recent government moves to suppress collective action.

   "I realized if LGBT people don't have the right to marry, we have no
   legal protections," she said. "Others will also experience what I did
   -- and be left with nothing."

   Under Chinese President Xi Jinping, space for civil society and
   advocacy has shrunk. Human rights activists and their lawyers have been
   detained, while internet censorship has increased.

   LGBT activists have turned to a novel tactic: submitting statements to
   the National People's Congress, China's legislature, which is
   soliciting opinions from the public on a draft of the Marriage and
   Family portion of the Civil Code through Friday.

   "A lot of people told me that this is the first time they've
   participated in the legal process," said Peng Yanzi, director of LGBT
   Rights Advocacy China, one of several groups running the campaign.

   The Marriage and Family section is among six draft regulations for
   which the legislature began seeking comments at the end of October. As
   of Thursday afternoon, the website showed that more than 200,000
   suggestions had been submitted either online or by mail, the greatest
   number of any of the outstanding drafts. It was not clear what
   proportion of the suggestions pertained to same-sex marriage.

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