China Bans Transgenders, LGBTQ relationships from Appearing on TV Shows
Last Updated on January 25, 2025 by NewsTurkana
China imposed banned on transgender on TV including a ban on showing LGBT relationships on television.
The restrictions which was effected in 2015, still remain in place today.
In December 2015, Chinese government censors released updated regulations on several types of TV content. According to The Guardian’s reporting at the time, these regulations included a prohibition on media depictions of “abnormal s£xual relationships and behaviors, such as incest, same-s£x relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, s£xual abuse, s£xual violence, and so on.” Content depicting activities like adultery, smoking, and drinking was also restricted.
Following the release of the updated regulations, several popular Chinese web dramas that included vulgar language, sexual scenes, or depictions of crime were taken offline.
In September 2015, a documentary about young gay Chinese called Mama Rainbow was taken down from all Chinese websites.
In 2021, China extended these restrictions further, placing a ban on television content that depicts effeminate men.
Same-sex marriages are not recognized in China, and LGBT activism groups, under pressure from government officials, have been forced to cease operations in recent years.The government said the show contravened the new guidelines, which state that “No television drama shall show abnormal sexual relationships and behaviours, such as incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on.”
The ban also extends to smoking, drinking, adultery, s£xually suggestive clothing, even reincarnation. China’s State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television told television producers it would constantly monitor TV channels to ensure the new rules were strictly adhered to.
The clampdown follows an increase in cultural censorship in China since Xi Jinping came to power in November 2012. In December 2014, censors stopped a TV show, The Empress of China, from being broadcast because the actors showed too much cleavage. The show only returned to screens once the breasts had been blurred out.
