March 4, 2021
Chinese Court Upholds Textbook Calling Homosexuality a 'Psychological Disorder'
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 1 MIN.
A Chinese court ruled that a university textbook may refer to LGTBQ people as suffering from a "psychological disorder," despite the country's Psychiatric Association delisting homosexuality as a pathological condition in 2001, UK newspaper the Daily Mail reports.
The court, in Jiangsu province, ruled in favor of the textbook's publisher, saying that "the description resulted from 'perceptual differences' and was not a factual error," said Daily Mail.
The court delivered the ruling without a hearing. The case was an appeal after the plaintiff, an equality activist identified only as XiXi, lost a suit, first brought in 2017 against "Jinan University Press and a company owned by retailer JD.com for publishing and distributing factually incorrect content in the 2013 book on mental health education for university students," the article said.
"The teaching material classifies homosexuality as a psychological disorder, which it isn't," XiXi, 24, said.
"I feel at a loss, because they didn't even have a trial...they just handed down the judgment," she added.
The head of LGBT Rights Advocacy China, Peng Yanzi, echoed XiXi's disappointment, calling the ruling "damaging to the LGBT community."
"We also very much admire XiXi because she's spent years legally pursuing this,"said Yanzi.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
