China LGBTQ community hangs tough in dissent amid repression

HONG KONG -- In a scene like many played out in theaters around the world, last month a smiling dance performance director emerged from the wings after a show to thunderous applause, taking a bow with a rainbow flag bearing the slogan "Love is love, love and gender are unrelated."

But this scene was in China, and the director was Jin Xing, the country's best-known transgender celebrity. For international human rights watchers and censors alike, it symbolized the dozens of lower-profile acts of dissent that data show persist in the Chinese LGBTQ community despite rigid government restrictions.