"No no you don't get it, Stalin had to shoot the queers! And Mao! And Deng! And Jiping! Queers are [checks notes] capitalist inventions! Please ignore that queer people have existed since pre-history!"
This is the sort of thing that could happen in places like Texas and Arkansas, South Carolina and Alabama. maga nation.
It is impossible for this to happen in places like California or New York.
If you are LGBT in a red state or a swing state, and say that both parties are the same, you are an idiot. If you neglect to vote for Democrats in November, you are stabbing yourself - and all the LGBT community - in the back.
When the US oppresses its people and others its just being silly. When China does similar things, they are the scourge of the earth commies authoritarians trying to kill everyone.
Most Americans don't see the hypocrisy. Sad state.
People in America have the freedom to take to the streets, which we have done many times, and the freedom to stage protests and boycots, which we have done many times, and the freedom demand things be better. The results and successes of these actions is always up for debate, but we've made great progress in the last century and have far, far surpassed much of the world in terms of liberties and rights.
It's really hard to see out of the opaque paper-bag we live in here, but the USA is still one of the best deals out there. It's okay to both recognize our successes and privileges while also demanding things be better.
An advocacy group that also served as a safe space for the LGBTQ community in Beijing became the latest organization to close under a crackdown by Chinese leader Xi Jinping's government.
"We very regretfully announce, due to forces beyond our control, the Beijing LGBT Center will stop operating today,"
There has been some progress, but it's mostly driven (as it has been in other countries) from the bottom up, from grassroots changes in attitude, and not from the central government. While China doesn't have the tradition of conservative Christian beliefs that fuel hatred in the US, there's other beliefs that fuel prejudice and discrimination, especially among older generations.
Many Western sources do try to leverage LGBT issues for geopolitical agendas, as they do with Palestine, for example. But that doesn't mean that what they say is false. I believe cross-referencing between Western sources and pro-LGBT Chinese sources such as Sixth Tone gives the most accurate picture of the state of things on the ground. Personally, I found Naomi Wu's perspective to be an invaluable case study, before she unfortunately ran afoul of censors on a different issue.
Hopefully the situation improves for queer people in China, but I fear that increasing global tensions will only slow down progress on that front.