ABBA: The Movie

In 1997 БЂњhooliganism,БЂ«an umbrella term understood to include homosexual behavior (there was never any explicit law dealing with homosexuality), was dropped from the penal code. In 2000 openly gay and lesbian people appeared on TV in China for the first time, and in 2001 China officially took homosexuality off its list of mental disorders. Today you can see same-sex couples openly holding hands at the mall (at least in the biggest cities); the atmosphere in any gay club, ABBA and all, feels utterly carefree; and the lesbian sexual orientation of at least two of the biggest pop singers in China is an almost laugh-ably open secret. On the other hand, the movie Brokeback Mountain was rejected for screening in mainland China despite director Ang LeeБЂ™s celebrity status in the country, gay couples from abroad are no longer allowed to adopt Chinese babies, and after the May 2008 Sichuan earthquake, gays and lesbians were among the groups barred from donating blood to help victims. Duц¬ shц­ The ironic thing about official and social ambivalence toward gays is that China in fact has a centuries-long tradition of homosexuality, which, while sometimes lampooned, was generally at least tolerated and at times even extolled ...»