Living free-homosexual forum

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

In 2005, she became the first Chinese mother to go public about her child's homosexuality. During a program with the Southern TV Station in Guangzhou, she boldly revealed her real name, profession and background.

Wu has devoted herself to helping the gay/lesbian community, despite some allegations that she is after fame.

"She needs the publicity so that she can raise awareness and do her work," explains her son Zheng, who is now 29.

Like Sun, Wu started a hotline in 2008. But unlike Sun, whose family members shun the media, Wu supports her cause with a highly supportive family.

She maintains an online blog and travels nationwide to give lectures and visits parents with gay/lesbian children to offer support. She is known in these circles as "Mama Wu".

This January, Papa Comrade and Mama Wu met in Guangzhou at the First Mainland Gay & Lesbian Parents Forum organized by Wu and her group. They discussed how to help people come out in the open about their sexual orientations.

The situation facing them is not welcoming but changing. The 2007 survey on Public Attitude toward Homosexuality by renowned sociologist and sexologist Li Yinhe indicates that 11.5 percent of Chinese will completely embrace a gay/lesbian family member, while 11.3 percent will not do so, with the vast majority of 74.3 percent saying they will accept, in the hope that their children will go mainstream with their sexual preferences in future.

Most Chinese parents with a gay/lesbian child still have a "don't ask (the children) and don't tell (the others)" attitude.

"It's nice to see parents taking a more open attitude," says Li, who has been striving for the protection of the rights of gays and lesbians.

Indeed, as Guangzhou-based writer Huang Tianyuan, also an old friend of Wu's, puts it: "In China we need a mother like Wu to stand up and speak aloud."

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