Hundreds of thousands of gays and lesbians in China are turning to a smartphone app to try to organise sham marriages with each other, staving off pressure from parents who demand they find a spouse and provide them with grandchildren.
The app Queers was launched last January to match gays and lesbians seeking such marriages. Users are invited to display details such as their height, weight, what car they own and their income as well as whether they want children or not.
Liao Zhuoying, the app’s founder, told The Times it had more than 400,000 users, with roughly 80 per cent based in mainland China. He estimated that 5 to 10 per cent of users successfully organised marriages through it.
“Users often spend up to a year getting to know each other,” he said. “It’s important they get on well because relatives will be around them. It’s no easier than straight people getting married.”
Homosexuality was illegal in China until 1997 and was classified as a mental disorder until 2001. The government has recently made big strides in moving towards equal rights for gay people with leaders publicly meeting gay figureheads, but many believe it will be decades before gay marriage comes in.
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Most parents in China expect their children to marry in their 20s and have children, with many gay Chinese keeping their sexuality a secret all their lives.
One 32-year-old gay man living with his Taiwanese boyfriend in Shanghai, who asked not to be named, told The Times that the app has meant that gay men in China no longer need to cruise lesbian bars for potential wives. “I haven’t found a better way to find a wife than this app,” he added.