Chinese broadcasting regulator releases guidelines banning LGBT depictions

• China’s top broadcasting regulator and an industry trade group released the guidelines, which, though not technically law, have appeared as authorities have censored and removed LGBT-friendly online and offline programming.
• The guidelines forbid the depiction of “abnormal sexual relationships and behaviors,” which include “incest, same-sex relationships, sexual perversion, sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual violence, and so on.”
• Diverse representation has been further inhibited by China’s recent ban on foreign-owned media operators from publishing online content in the country.

Read more:
“China Is Censoring Gay Characters From TV Shows And Online Dramas” (BuzzFeed News)
“Beijing is banning all foreign media from publishing online in China” (Quartz)
“China’s Censors Take Another Gay-Themed Web Drama Offline” (The Wall Street Journal)
“Chinese Censors Have Taken a Popular Gay Drama Offline and Viewers Aren’t Happy” (TIME)

(Image Credit: via BuzzFeed News)