Hunan vocational school takes down anti-gay message

Society & Culture

Hunan vocational school takes down anti-gay message

A vocational school in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, made headlines last weekย when a photo of an anti-gay slogan on campus went viral online. The school has now agreed to take down the banner, and pledged to make the school gay-friendly after speaking with LGBTQ rights activists in Hunan.

After the photo of the banner circulated, the Changsha branch of PFLAG China, a nonprofit organization that supports the countryโ€™s LGBTQ community, sent an advocacy group to the school on June 1. The group โ€” six mothers of gay children and five volunteers โ€” arrived at the school in the hopes of โ€œspreading LGBT knowledgeโ€ and โ€œconvincing school officials to remove the slogan,โ€ according to a WeChat postย (in Chinese)ย by the organization.

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When questioned by the activists, the vice principal explained that the message was put up by the head of the schoolโ€™s propaganda department, who โ€œmisinterpreted instructions from higher-upsโ€ and made a mistake โ€œwithout much consideration.โ€ The school official said that he immediately ordered the removal of the slogan, and promised not to discriminate against gay students.

While on campus, the activists posed for a photo carrying a banner that read, โ€œAccept homosexuality, create an equal and harmonious campus.โ€

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