China’s Weibo site backtracks on gay censorship after outcry

BEIJING — One of China’s top social networking sites has announced that it will no longer be censoring content related to gay issues after the plan triggered a loud public outcry.

Weibo.com was flooded over the weekend with the hashtags “#I’mGay” and “#I’mGayNotaPervert” after the Twitter-like platform said that cartoons and short videos with pornographic, violent or gay subject matter would be investigated over a three-month period.

The microblogging site, which saw its Nasdaq shares fall on Friday, amended the announcement on Monday, saying, “This clean-up of games and cartoons will no longer target homosexual content.” A spokesman refused to provide further details.

While homosexuality is not illegal in China and few Chinese have religious objections to homosexuality, the conservative society’s preference for marriage and childbearing has created barriers for LGBT people.