We can only be healthy if we love ourselves: Queer AIDS NGOs, kinship, and alternative families of care in China

Casey James Miller

doi:10.1080/09540121.2016.1195481

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn this article, I draw from recent developments in the anthropological literatures on kinship and care to complicate and extend analyses of Chinese queer NGOs and AIDS activism. By highlighting the practical, moral, and political dimensions of daily life and work within Chinese queer NGOs, I argue that they constitute what I call “alternative families of care” by serving as important sources of material and emotional support and care for queer men, including increasing numbers of HIV-positive men who have sex with men, in a social climate that is still largely unsupportive and hostile toward both queerness and people living with HIV/AIDS. I also show how HIV/AIDS prevention and care are additionally regarded by many Chinese queer activists as an important political strategy for demonstrating the responsibility of queer men in the face of the AIDS crisis, achieving greater recognition from the government and society, and eventually attaining increased rights, including same-sex marriage.

Highlights

One evening in May 2011, I was sitting on a bed in a small hotel room in Sichuan with Xiao Chang,1 a 30year-old full-time staff member at Guangming, a grassroots queer or tongzhi2 NGO in southwest China focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and care
Moral, and political dimensions of daily life and work within Chinese queer NGOs, I argue that they constitute what I call “alternative families of care” by serving as important sources of material and emotional support and care for queer men, including increasing numbers of HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM), in a social climate that is still largely unsupportive and hostile toward both queerness and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWA)
As I interviewed members of queer NGOs all over China, I was struck by the uniformity of their political agenda; improving the health of queer men by providing HIV/AIDS prevention and care was an urgent practical concern, it was seen as a means to eventually win greater acceptance of homosexuality in China and to advocate for the rights of queer people, including same-sex marriage

Summary

Introduction

One evening in May 2011, I was sitting on a bed in a small hotel room in Sichuan with Xiao Chang, a 30year-old full-time staff member at Guangming, a grassroots queer or tongzhi NGO in southwest China focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and care. As I interviewed members of queer NGOs all over China, I was struck by the uniformity of their political agenda; improving the health of queer men by providing HIV/AIDS prevention and care was an urgent practical concern, it was seen as a means to eventually win greater acceptance of homosexuality in China and to advocate for the rights of queer people, including same-sex marriage. Xiao Yang, a 26-year-old Dongfang staff member, said how “my ultimate goal of my hard work and effort is to achieve the legalization of samesex marriage in China” He personally felt that state recognition of queer relationships was not important – “The reason I want to get married to my boyfriend isn’t for the government to give us some little book”, he said – he argued that “promoting the legalization of same-sex marriage is very important as a means to oppose discrimination and to achieve greater social awareness” of homosexuality

Conclusion

Findings

Funding information