China’s LGBTQ+ community celebrates rare scenes from Paris Olympics. But the internet is divided

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Two men kiss on a Parisian bridge. The camera later jumps to a trio embracing passionately in a room, before the door shuts.

These are among the images that France, the organizer of the Paris 2024 Olympics, presented to the world during the opening ceremony last week.

In China, the scenes have become a rare point of celebration for the LGBTQ+ community. They were beamed live across hundreds of millions of television screens by the country’s state broadcaster – unimpeded by the usual censorship that blocks any content depicting same-sex relationships.

China has cracked down hard on its LGBTQ+ movement under leader Xi Jinping, who has adopted a more authoritarian, socially conservative and patriarchal vision for the country. Support groups have been forced to disband, with activists harassed by police, pride parades cancelled and films and TV shows featuring same-sex themes banned.

The clampdown has made it all the more striking when scenes of gay men and drag queens from the Paris Olympics opening ceremony made it onto Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. On social media site Weibo, the “#Paris opening ceremony is really cool# hashtag has generated more than 600 million views over the past four days.

Ken Huang, 26, who is gay and lives in Beijing, said it felt like “an unrealistic dream” when the scene came up.

“I burst into big laughs first. I was like ‘Well, every dog has his day!’ Then I quickly took a photo and sent it to my friends who were watching the live broadcast, and quickly posted it on social media,” he said.