Chinese man sues govt for refusing to register gay body

A Chinese man is suing authorities after officials turned down his application to register a gay organisation, saying homosexuality goes against "cultural and ideological progress".
Xiang Xiaohan (a pseudonym), a resident of Changsha, the capital of central Hunan Province, filed the lawsuit against the Hunan Department of Civil Affairs (HDCA) yesterday. He accused authorities of defamation in replies given to him.
The court will decide whether to put the case on file within seven days.
Xiang made multiple visits to Changsha's civil affairs bureau to consult about registering the gay organisation but staff told him on each occasion that such groups "cannot be registered at the moment".

He later filled a form seeking the reasons for the refusal and turned it in to the HDCA, which replied that organisations should act in accordance with morals.
Gay organisations are "against tradition and the construction of cultural and ideological progress" and should not be established, the HDCA said.

"That statement is detrimental to the reputation of the gay community," Xiang said. The statement should be retracted and the HDCA should issue an apology, he said.
Despite Xiang's protests, the HDCA failed to send a reply to him, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Xiang initiated an online campaign for same-sex rights with several friends in 2009 and the group helped organise several anti-discrimination activities in Changsha.

But the organisation has remained coy about its brick-and-mortar programmes due to a lack of legal recognition, Xiang said.
The gay activist said he hopes related government departments can help facilitate registration for gay organisations in Changsha because "the law does not specifically prohibit it".
Homosexuality was removed from the Chinese Classification of Mental Disorders in 2001 after the World Health Organisation did the same in 1990. However, conservative attitudes still persist in many aspects of Chinese society.
In some areas, young homosexuals are forced by parents to receive medical treatment to try to alter their sexual orientation.