Legal experts and gay rights groups have been pushing for the legalization of gay marriage for years. This year, before China's two annual legislative and political consultative sessions, more commonly known as the two sessions, gay rights groups have reached out to representatives asking them to present proposals that promote equality at the meetings. Even though the proposal presented in the end was not about gay marriage, but rather focused on education about homosexuality, advocacy groups have seen this as a sign of improvement.

Wedding photo of a gay couple in southeast China's Fujian province. (Photo source:CRI online)

Before the two sessions, Lin Xianzhi busied himself sending letters.

The 61-year-old retired civil servant from Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province is the father of a gay man. Starting in 2014, he spent months talking with legal experts and wrote up a proposal for legalizing gay marriage. He mailed the proposal to 1,000 legislators and advisors with the help of volunteers.

The country's annual legislative and political consultive sessions, known simply as the two sessions, that closed on Sunday were a busy time for representatives and government officials. But they were also a busy time for activists.

Worried parents

Ran Ran, a National People's Congress (NPC) deputy from Chongqing Municipality, proposed at the two sessions that information about homosexuality should be included in textbooks used in higher education institutes, so that it can be discussed in classrooms and students can have a more objective view of homosexuals.

Ran said at the meeting that people should be taught scientific knowledge of homosexuality and that the government should pass laws and regulations to ensure the basic rights of gay people, according to China National Radio.

This was seen as a very progressive request, especially given the fact that homosexuality was officially categorized a mental illness in China up until 2001, even though it wasn't the original gay marriage proposal Ran took with her to the two sessions.

Before the meeting, Ran reached out to the Guangzhou-based Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) organization and Li Yinhe, a renowned sexologist, after she received a letter from Lin Xianzhi.

The letter called for the legalization of gay marriage, and came with the proposed law attached. Li also wrote a proposal that expressed support for the legalization of gay marriage to give to Ran.

Lin has been an active member of PFLAG since he came to accept his gay son, Xiaotao, who came out to him in 2011. Lin said at first he went through all the steps that most Chinese parents go through when they find out their children are gay, such as denial and anger.

But after talking with other parents, he began to accept his son, and eventually started developing the idea of writing a proposal regarding legalizing gay marriage in China.

"They live together right now and our families socialize like in-laws," Lin said. "Even though our country doesn't have this law, they are still spending their time together and would like to be together for a long time."

The parents of gay children often worry about these matters, Lin said.

"The most practical one is, if one of the couple gets sick, the other can't even sign the medical form as a family member," Lin said.

Some other worries concern disputes, property division, and adoption. Right now there is no legal protection in these areas and many parents worry about their gay children in this aspect.

Zhou Yanghai, Xiaotao's boyfriend, said that in fact this is the reason many parents are having a hard time accepting their children. Parents worry about how their children will live together and grow old, without their rights being safeguarded.

"It's all practical stuff, it's not romance," Lin said. "It's the same with marriage between men and women too, when they decide to be together. It's all about rights and responsibilities."

Besides, there is a large group of people who have to deal with these issues, Lin said.

A report by Chinese health authorities in 2004 said that there were more than 10 million male homosexuals living in China, but sexologist Zhang Beichuan has estimated that there are at least 30 million homosexual Chinese.

After writing his proposal, Lin sent the draft to many lawyers and experts to hear their opinions, and eventually mailed it to 1,000 NPC deputies and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) prior to the two sessions this year.

He only received a response from Ran. Even though she didn't present his proposal and chose to present her own gay rights proposals, Lin is happy that at least this year there was a voice speaking in favor of people like his son during the two sessions. He is in favor of her pro-education proposal as he thinks it's impossible to change the marriage law in China all of a sudden, especially when people don't know much about homosexuality.