Xinghun marriages in China and other (Asian) LGBT topics

glazzal (and anyone else who'd like to comment!), can we talk about this Atlantic article, "For Gay Chinese, Getting Married Means Getting Creative" by Zi Heng Lim? You'd said in your comment to my other post: "The rest of Asia is a little more tolerant, though, I will add, as civil society and human rights/people power are stronger in their jurisdictions."

But this article presents a very conflicted attitude in China over a range of topics, but which seem to be culminating in a culture war regarding marriage. There's a generation split already going on, you can see it, between the younger and the "older" Chinese LGBT community: those in their late 20s, early 30s are feeling that pressure to enter into heterosexual marriages to produce children and carry on lines and be good children, while the younger, up-and-coming generation seems to be like, "EFF THAT!" It seems to me that a very fast split/break is brewing, not unlike what happened very quickly in the US LGBT community.

Is there an analogous attitude in Singapore at all regarding marriage, being "traditionally" married and/or having marriages of convenience as LGBT people? In China, the problem is framed within legal obstacles, it seems: no government allowance to have children if you're single, it's difficult to adopt as a single parent, no legal recognition for children born out of wedlock.

When I read this article, many of the issues the Chinese interviewees pose aren't unlike the concerns I might feel (or things that I can see making my own parents sad in consideration). The societal pressures they feel are much more dispersed, though, with filial duties and definitions of "success" exerting a greater sense of . . . need to conform? urgency? guilt? How much of their concerns reflect what you feel in your country or what you see the social climate is like in your country? I didn't even realize that gay marriage was being pushed for so hard in countries I'd viewed as more socially conservative.

I remember the rumblings about Vietnam considering making gay marriage legal as same-sex unions and going, "WHAT?" The issue was framed as a practical, pragmatic move rather than any moral or, even, legitimizing-LGBT-people one. (I think it's so interesting how discussion that popped up in the wake of the announcement was skepticism about the government's motives in even proposing it.)

I just googled and read that article right now, but great quote:

"What is Western is to come out, not that you're gay," Masequesmay said, adding that in the past, a married man in Vietnam could take a male lover, and it would not be controversial as long as he fulfilled his "duty as a father and a husband."

Hrm.