Companies Selling Pride Gear Mum on Anti-LGBTQ Chinese Court Ruling

American companies marketing Pride messaging and merchandise to LGBTQ people have nothing to say about a recent Chinese court decision that upheld a textbook's description of homosexuality as a "psychological disorder," National Review reports.

The publication "reached out to 13 American companies and five multinational corporations that manufacture in China while selling LGTBQ pride products."

The only response came from "Sweden-based clothing retailer H&M.... which lists China and Bangladesh as its largest production markets for clothing," the article said.

A spokesperson for the company provided a statement to the National Review: "H&M Group works with suppliers and business partners to ensure that human rights are respected in the supply chain, based on our business relationships, leverage and operational context.

"We always strive to act ethically, transparently and responsibly, and we expect our Business Partners to do the same. All our business partners have to sign and comply with our sustainability commitment, no matter where they are located."

The company said it would "continue to stand by our values and commitments' when asked to comment on the ruling and if it will continue manufacturing in China moving forward," National Review reported.

"Meanwhile, Nike, Disney, Starbucks, Dr. Martens, Bombas, MeUndies, Adidas, Reebok, Warby Parker, American Eagle, PopSockets, Pottery Barn, Teva, UGG, Puma, Target and Levi's all did not respond to National Review's request for comment," the article said.

"All the brands engage in pro-LGBT marketing efforts, particularly around 'pride' month."

"In China, the courts are not independent," a lawyer named Dan Harris, an expert in business in China, told National Review. "They are a reflection of the Communist Party, which basically controls everything."

Harris contextualized the issue in terms of China's overall human rights record, which includes allegations of horrific abuse, "a genocide going on in Xinjiang where there are at least a million Uyghurs essentially put in concentration camps, and forced labor," Harris told the publication.

"The 2013 edition of 'Mental Health Education for College Students' listed homosexuality under 'common psychosexual disorders' and it 'was believed to be a disruption of love and sex or perversion of the sex partner,' " National Review reported.

As previously reported at EDGE, a 24-year-old student named XiXi fought against the textbook's characterization of homosexuality, filing suit in 2017.

The suit, UK newspaper the Daily Mail detailed, was against "Jinan University Press and a company owned by retailer JD.com," and claiming the book contained "factually incorrect content."

XiXi lost the 2017 suit and appealed. The court reaffirmed the finding in favor of the textbook's publisher, that "the description resulted from 'perceptual differences' and was not a factual error," said Daily Mail.

The court delivered the ruling without a hearing.