• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Towleroad Gay News

Gay Blog Towleroad: More than gay news | gay men

  • Body
  • Daily Resist
  • POLITICS
  • Travel
  • Music
  • Theatre
  • Film
  • TV
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Men
  • Marriage Equality
  • Space
  • Trans Rights
  • Books
  • Science
  • Gay Iconography
  • TowleREAD

Chinese Filmmaker Wins Legal Challenge to Ban of Gay-Themed Documentary: VIDEO

December 29, 2015 by Michael Fitzgerald Leave a Comment

Mama Rainbow

A Chinese filmmaker has won a court challenge to a ban of his gay-themed documentary Mama Rainbow. Fan Popo (below rights) says he hopes the victory will inspire others to stand up to anti-gay censorship laws in China.

Fan PopoFan sued China’s media regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), after Mama Rainbow – which documents the real-life stories of six mothers and their gay and lesbian children – was removed from streaming sites in December 2014.

Under China’s strict censorship laws, works addressing the real lives of gay people can sometimes only be screened privately.

RELATED: Gay Chinese Activists Expose Dangerous, Illegal Practice of Electroshock Conversion Therapy: WATCH

Both Youku Tudou and 56.com had told Fan that his documentary was removed after they received a document stating the film violated SAPPRFT guidelines. However, the censorship agency later told Fan that it had never “released a document to delete and block” the film.

In last week’s verdict, a Beijing court ruled that SAPPRFT was correct in stating that it hadn’t released any document calling for the film to be banned. While the ruling does not make clear why the film was removed, Fan said it is a victory “because now knowing the agency did not release any document, I can require the video sites to put my film back.”

However, Fan added that censorship laws in China often don’t make sense. For instance, the film The Imitation Game was released in China in July and grossed around $7.7 million dollars nationally. Trying to decipher the logic behind censors’ decision to allow that film to be released, Fan wondered if the film was permitted because Alan Turing “is a foreigner…so it is okay for him to be gay.”

Additionally, Chinese censors for the first time approved a film with gay characters last September. The decision regarding that film, Seek McCartney, was seen as a sign of progress in a country where LGBT rights are not advanced and many Chinese gay men enter into fake marriages with straight women rather than come out to their own families.

Watch Fan Po’s documentary Mama Rainbow in full, below.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Censorship, China, documentary, Film, Mama Rainbow

Recent Posts

  • James Lankford, Dolly Parton, Vaccine Rollout, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor, Palm Beach, The Big Lie, Joshua Bassett: HOT LINKS

    James Lankford, Dolly Parton, Vaccine Rollout, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor, Palm Beach, The Big Lie, Joshua Bassett: HOT LINKS

    8 hours ago
  • Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney Takes Down QAnon GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert After Accusations He Named Her as Member Who Gave ‘Reconnaissance Tours’ of US Capitol Ahead of Trump Insurrection

    Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney Takes Down QAnon GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert After Accusations He Named Her as Member Who Gave ‘Reconnaissance Tours’ of US Capitol Ahead of Trump Insurrection

    13 hours ago
  • ‘Where They Countin’ the Votes?!’: New Video Details Tense Moments as Capitol Mob Sought Out Lawmakers — WATCH

    ‘Where They Countin’ the Votes?!’: New Video Details Tense Moments as Capitol Mob Sought Out Lawmakers — WATCH

    13 hours ago
  • Capitol Police Officer Gives Chilling Account of Being Dragged Down Steps by Trump Mob: ‘Kill Him with His Own Gun!’ — WATCH

    Capitol Police Officer Gives Chilling Account of Being Dragged Down Steps by Trump Mob: ‘Kill Him with His Own Gun!’ — WATCH

    14 hours ago
Previous Post: « Tuesday Morning News Feed: Michigan, Ethan ‘Affluenza’ Couch, Sex Slaves, Turkey, John Bodega
Next Post: Philly Water Department Workers Mistaken for Anti-Gay Vandals: WATCH »

Primary Sidebar

  • James Lankford, Dolly Parton, Vaccine Rollout, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor, Palm Beach, The Big Lie, Joshua Bassett: HOT LINKS

  • Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney Takes Down QAnon GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert After Accusations He Named Her as Member Who Gave ‘Reconnaissance Tours’ of US Capitol Ahead of Trump Insurrection

  • ‘Where They Countin’ the Votes?!’: New Video Details Tense Moments as Capitol Mob Sought Out Lawmakers — WATCH

Recent Posts

  • James Lankford, Dolly Parton, Vaccine Rollout, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor, Palm Beach, The Big Lie, Joshua Bassett: HOT LINKS

    James Lankford, Dolly Parton, Vaccine Rollout, Sarah Paulson and Holland Taylor, Palm Beach, The Big Lie, Joshua Bassett: HOT LINKS

    8 hours ago
  • Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney Takes Down QAnon GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert After Accusations He Named Her as Member Who Gave ‘Reconnaissance Tours’ of US Capitol Ahead of Trump Insurrection

    Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney Takes Down QAnon GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert After Accusations He Named Her as Member Who Gave ‘Reconnaissance Tours’ of US Capitol Ahead of Trump Insurrection

    13 hours ago
  • ‘Where They Countin’ the Votes?!’: New Video Details Tense Moments as Capitol Mob Sought Out Lawmakers — WATCH

    ‘Where They Countin’ the Votes?!’: New Video Details Tense Moments as Capitol Mob Sought Out Lawmakers — WATCH

    13 hours ago
  • Capitol Police Officer Gives Chilling Account of Being Dragged Down Steps by Trump Mob: ‘Kill Him with His Own Gun!’ — WATCH

    Capitol Police Officer Gives Chilling Account of Being Dragged Down Steps by Trump Mob: ‘Kill Him with His Own Gun!’ — WATCH

    14 hours ago
  • Brie Larson ‘Gay’ Comment Sends Internet into a Frenzy: WATCH

    Brie Larson ‘Gay’ Comment Sends Internet into a Frenzy: WATCH

    15 hours ago
  • No One Will Take Responsibility for That Abraham Lincoln Bust Seen Leaving the White House

    No One Will Take Responsibility for That Abraham Lincoln Bust Seen Leaving the White House

    15 hours ago
  • Cindy McCain Reacts to Arizona GOP’s Plan to Censure Her for Supporting Joe Biden and Gay Marriage: ‘I Think I’m Going to Make T-Shirts’ — WATCH

    Cindy McCain Reacts to Arizona GOP’s Plan to Censure Her for Supporting Joe Biden and Gay Marriage: ‘I Think I’m Going to Make T-Shirts’ — WATCH

    16 hours ago
  • Trump Has Forbidden Mention of Richard Nixon in the White House

    Trump Has Forbidden Mention of Richard Nixon in the White House

    16 hours ago
  • DOJ Has ‘Strong Evidence’ That Trump Insurrectionists Planned to ‘Capture and Assassinate Elected Officials’

    DOJ Has ‘Strong Evidence’ That Trump Insurrectionists Planned to ‘Capture and Assassinate Elected Officials’

    17 hours ago
  • Forbidden from Using Any of Jared and Ivanka’s 6 Bathrooms, Secret Service Spent $100K+ to Rent Toilet in Tony D.C. Neighborhood

    Forbidden from Using Any of Jared and Ivanka’s 6 Bathrooms, Secret Service Spent $100K+ to Rent Toilet in Tony D.C. Neighborhood

    1 day ago

Most Commented

  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Towleroad
  • Towleroad on Social Media
  • Privacy Policy

Footer

Copyright © 2021 · Log in