Homosexuality was decriminalized in China in 1997, and in 2021, the Chinese Society of Psychiatry removed it from the list of mental disorders.
However, from 2017, Chinese medical institutions started to offer "conversion therapy" to those people, seeing LGBT as a form of a "psychological disorder".
China is known for its harsh approach towards minority groups, and LGBT people, are considered minorities by the Chinese government.
This is why in China, people that are or consider themselves gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual, and other sexual minorities still face discrimination.
And because China is known to remove things that doesn’t fit with its “worldview,” its government is known to regularly crack down LGBT-related content.
And this time, it has expanded its reach, to also include WeChat, the social media popular among Chinese citizens.
It is reported that several WeChat accounts run by LGBT university student groups have become unavailable.
The admins of the groups found that they've lost access to their accounts.
It was later realized that WeChat deleted these accounts without any specific reasons. WeChat users who wish to see these group, will be greeted with a notice that says the group “had violated regulations on the management of accounts offering public information service on the Chinese internet.”
These LGBT accounts were taken down months after the universities asked these groups to shut down or remove references to their college’s name.
At that time, the university representatives of the Communist Youth League asked the LGBT groups about their loyalty to the country and the party.
And because their inquiries were not responded accordingly, the universities forwarded their inquiries to the government, which then asked WeChat to delete the groups.
Not only that, as contents of the WeChat accounts, including personal stories and photos of group events, were also erased.
The official attitude is increasingly strict, said one founder of one of the LGBT groups.
"Many of us suffered at the same time," said one account manager of one of the groups. "They censored us without any warning. All of us have been wiped out."
WeChat only sent account holders a notice to say that they've violated rules, but gave no further details. That, according to another founder of an LGBT group.
These people refuse to reveal their identities, fearing of possible official retaliation.
WeChat is China's most popular social media service. And this removal of LGBT groups ran by university students and nongovernment groups, prompts concern that the ruling Communist Party is tightening its control over gay and lesbian content.
For its part, the U.S. said that it was concerned about this issue, and considers this as a way for China to block people from merely expressing their views and exercising freedom of speech.
“We oppose the use of network restrictions to suppress freedom of expression online,” whether in China or anywhere else, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.
Surveys found that there are about 70 million LGBT people in China, or about 5% of the population.
