A same-sex couple hold hands during an event to raise awareness of gay rights in Hong Kong on May 25, 2019.
(New York) – The censorship of prominent social media accounts, foreign films, and events with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) themes around Pride month illustrates the deteriorating rights situation for LGBT people in China, Human Rights Watch said today. A number of these events were organized by foreign embassies and cultural institutes.
“Under Xi Jinping, the Chinese government’s intensifying repression and promotion of normative gender and sexuality has resulted in shrinking spaces for LGBT people,” said Yalkun Uluyol, China researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Almost three decades since China decriminalized homosexuality, authorities’ paranoia about grassroots social movements has severely undermined LGBT people’s ability to gain visibility and equality.”
In May 2026, the social media company WeChat suspended multiple public channels featuring LGBT content after they reported on the response from the Research Office of China’s Supreme People’s Court to an online petition about legal protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. The response, though not legally binding, was the first recognition of its kind by a judicial body in China and was subsequently welcomed by LGBT activists and supporters.
On June 17, WeChat also suspended the public account of Zhenzhen’s Rainbow (镇镇的彩虹), a channel of the Beijing-based Rainbow Violence Prevention Center, which provides support for LGBT people who have faced gender-based violence. WeChat—which, like all social media companies in China, is required by the Chinese authorities to actively monitor and censor users—said the channel had violated relevant regulations but provided no details.
The Chinese government appears particularly concer
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