Pride of tolerance
The ongoing Shanghai Pride 2009, the largest festival of the gay and lesbian community on the Chinese mainland, is a good showcase of the country's social progress alongside the three decades of economic boom.
For long, most Chinese viewed the phenomenon of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals as weird imports from the decadent West. Even though there is mention of homosexual practices in ancient Chinese dynasties and literature, it was not until 1997 that gay sex was decriminalized in China. And, it was only in 2001 that homosexual behavior was taken off the official list of mental disorders.
Compared to the 1980s and early 1990s - when most gays and lesbians had to meet covertly in toilets, public bathhouses, parks and bus stations - the situation has changed dramatically.
In the last decade, gay and lesbian organizations, websites, blogs and bars, teahouses and clubs have mushroomed, catering to an estimated 30 to 40 million homosexuals on the Chinese mainland. Books and movies on homosexuality are published and screened. At Shanghai's Fudan University, classes on homosexuality always draw a full house.
Surveys in recent years have shown growing public acceptance and tolerance of same sex relationships. About 91 of the 400 respondents polled in major cities agreed that homosexuals should have equal employment rights, while 80 percent said that heterosexuals and homosexuals should be treated as equal.
This kind of acceptance and tolerance, according to well-known sociologist Li Yinhe who conducted the study, was higher among the upper strata of white-collar workers.
Shanghai, as one of the most open and progressive Chinese cities, has displayed this acceptance and tolerance with its increasingly active gay and lesbian community and the week- long festival, Shanghai Pride 2009.
While the more tolerant public attitude is heartening, many in the country's homosexual community still face great pressure from society, their families and employers.
At times and in some places, local police still harass gays and lesbians. In the vast countryside, homosexuality is still very much a taboo and considered an affliction. This only means that there is much to be done by the government, the media and the general public to promote understanding, acceptance and respect of the rights of gays and lesbians.
Shanghai Pride 2009 should be a source of great encouragement to the tens of millions of "comrades", as homosexual men and women are called in the Chinese mainland.
Meanwhile, the festival, though bereft of the massive street parade that is a feature of gay and lesbian festivals elsewhere, is also sending a strong signal to the 1.3 billion Chinese about greater acceptance and tolerance.
The Shanghai festival is still relatively low-key and on a smaller scale compared with similar events abroad. Yet it is an event of profound significance for the country and the world.
Any verdict should be based on rule of law
The Deng Yujiao case, in which a woman pedicurist at a local hotel's massage parlor in Badong county, Hubei province, stabbed to death an official demanding "special service" from her, has drawn immense public attention.
The case seems to involve many elements that appeal to the tastes of netizens and the media: sex, corruption, and the revolt of the weak against the powerful.
It's reported that the woman has been charged with "intentional assault" by the Badong prosecutors. But the prosecution acknowledged that Deng's act was "in self-defense, though exceeding necessary limits".
Interestingly, there was a similar case that took place in Beijing's Fengtai district on May 28, in which a middle-aged man was stabbed to death - but this time by a male pedicurist - after a quarrel, the Beijing News reported on May 30. Police detained the suspect and is investigating the case.
Both cases were about pedicurists stabbing their customers to death, but the social repercussions of the second case are far less than that of the first.
The great attention and support given by the media and netizens to Deng Yujiao stems mostly from public concerns over the protection of women's rights and sympathy toward the weak and downtrodden. But same criteria should be observed in the handling of both cases, and any verdict should be based on the rule of law.
Some netizens and media have based their judgment on Deng Yujiao's case on sensibility instead of sense, as a result of a lack of knowledge of some basic facts concerning the case. This inevitably led to biased views. But their constant attention has made it possible for the case to be handled justly, impartially and openly throughout the process from investigation to final verdict.
According to article 20 of China's Criminal Law, criminal responsibility is not to be borne for an act of legitimate defense that is undertaken to stop ongoing unlawful infringement of the rights of the person who causes harm to the unlawful infringer.
Criminal responsibility shall be borne where legitimate defense noticeably exceeds the necessary limits and causes great harm. However, consideration shall be given to imposing a mitigated punishment or to granting exemption from punishment.
But criminal responsibility is not to be borne for a defensive act undertaken against ongoing physical assault, murder, robbery, rape, kidnap, and other violent crimes that seriously endanger personal safety that causes injury or death to the unlawful infringer because such an act is not an excessive defense.
The acknowledgment of "excessive self-defense" in Deng's case means she will receive mitigated, or even be exempted from, criminal punishment.
Two reporters, one from Beijing and the other from Guangzhou, were allegedly beaten the week before during their interview with Deng's grandmother by some local people whose identities are yet to be confirmed.
The public, including netizens and the media, enjoy the right to be informed of nothing but truth. As long as the law is not violated, reporters enjoy the freedom of conducting interviews, just as people have the right to decline to be interviewed. No one can intervene in such interviews without legal authorization, let alone beat up reporters, which is against the law. All parties involved in this case should behave themselves based on the law and reason.