Till recently, I hadn’t paid much attention to the gay rights issue in China. It’s not as bad as in some countries, but it’s poor and may be getting worse with this year’s changes in the government. That’s a major issue for many fans, yet I haven’t seen any discussion of it in connection with the 2023 Worldcon in Chengdu.

The good news is that homosexuality isn’t illegal in China. However, same-sex marriage isn’t recognized, and same-sex couples aren’t allowed to adopt. This shouldn’t directly affect visitors, but it’s one more reason to question the choice of China as a host country for the Worldcon.

More relevant is China’s censorship of movies with LGBT content. As far as I can tell, the animated movie Lightyear was banned because of a brief kiss between two women. I can’t find out whether it actually was banned; all the stories I can find with Google and DuckDuckGo searches say only it was “likely” to be banned; China’s final decision, whatever it was, apparently held no interest for the media. But whatever, censorship has been a pattern with China. China demanded that Warner censor lines in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore about the love between Dumbledore and Grindelwald, and Warner complied. So the secrets are still secrets there.

Will there be any discussion of LGBT issues in Chengdu? Will the participants feel safe about expressing themselves freely?

The situation in China is complicated. There’s some acceptance of trans people, and reassignment surgery is legal for people who meet some strict criteria. China isn’t Saudi Arabia in this respect. But the censorship issue is the most relevant one to a science fiction convention, and it should get more attention.

There are a hundred reasons to stay clear of the Chengdu Worldcon and not give it any support. This is one more.