Homosexuals find more tolerance on campus
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-02-01 10:31

While much of the Chinese society rejects same-sex relations, universities in the country are becoming more liberal, according to a recent survey to discover more about the levels of homosexuality on Chinese university campuses.

Jiang Qiuyu and five of her classmates, from the Beijing-based China University of Nationalities, had posted information on homosexual websites, held face-to-face interviews, and distributed their questionnaires around 10 universities in Beijing, including prestigious Beijing University and Qinghua University.

The results of their survey were published recently in China Youth Daily.

Among the 582 online respondents who were gay, nearly 74 percent were men.

"We found that university is the place many gay men first identify their sexual orientation," said Jiang, adding that compared with homosexuals elsewhere, university students tend to "dream more about pure love and worry less about the future."

"People with homosexual tendencies believe campus life is more relaxed than the rest of society," said Jiang, quoted by Wednesday's China Daily.

Sun Zhongxin, an associate professor of sociology at Fudan University in Shanghai and the lecturer of the university's "Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies" course, the first of its kind in China, agrees that campus life can be "more friendly and tolerant" towards homosexuality than the rest of society.

Campuses may be liberal places, but according to Sun, they are not "breeding grounds for homosexuality." She said the number of homosexuals on campus is not growing, even though it can seem that way as more people feel able to reveal their sexual orientation.

Sun said she believed homosexuality is biologically determined. And even though society is against it, the reality is that it won't adversely affect society. "Being homosexual won't prevent a person from being able to contribute to society's general well-being," she said.