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Living free-homosexual forum

By Mei Jia (Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-16 09:51

When Sun Dehua heard that his only son Sun Mu was gay, he stormed off to find the young man, kitchen knife in hand. Consumed with intense anger, he just wanted to kill his son - and himself.

Sun comes from rural Dalian, in Northeast China's Liaoning province, where sons are still expected to carry forward the family line. For four generations, the Sun family has had only one male descendant. Old Sun naturally expected that his son would dutifully get married and produce an heir. The 55-year-old farmer had no idea about homosexuality, other than the stigma attached to it.

Thousands of miles away in South China's Guangzhou, Guangdong province, Zheng Yuantao encountered a dramatically different reaction from his mother when the 19-year-old high school student said: "Mom, I think I am in love with boys."

Zheng's mother Wu Youjian calmly raised three questions in a gentle voice:

"I know homosexuals are in a minority, so how did you find a partner?"

"Do you know how to protect yourself from the risk of an infection?"

"You are still so young. How can you be sure you will never fall in love with girls?"

Though Sun and Wu reacted in very different ways to their sons' choices, they have since accepted the fact and support their children.

Not only have they revealed their names in the media, the two also run hotlines for gay and lesbian groups.

Although the two are rare examples, they signal the growing tolerance of Chinese society.

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