For Chinese gays, 'coming out' is a family affair

Li Tao (L) and Duan Rongfeng are among a new generation of gay Chinese willing to take a stand on their sexuality, despite family pressure to conform. - AFP

Shanghai (AFP) - When Piao Chunmei's son told her he was gay, she reacted the way many Chinese parents do, sleepless and crying for days due to the lingering shame of same sex relationships in China.

But she eventually accepted her son and is now part of an expanding network of gays and their parents who help other families cope with the stress of coming out in a country which until 2001 classified homosexuality as a mental illness.