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China

Chinese Parents Petition Congress For Same-Sex Marriage Legislation

CHINA DAILY, SOUTHERN METROPOLIS DAILY (China)

Worldcrunch

GUANGZHOU – An organization of parents of gay and lesbians in China has sent an open letter to China’s National People’s Congress (NPC), demanding the legalization of same-sex marriage, according to the Southern Metropolis Daily.

“Some of our children have been living with their partners for nearly 10 years. They love each other, but they cannot sign their names legally when their partners need an operation,” said the letter written by PFLAG China (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays of China), a Guangzhou-based organization that promotes LGBT rights and supports gay parents.

The letter underlines the problems that gay couples in China are facing, such as adoption, inheritance and purchasing properties. It also calls for an early amendment of the Marriage Law to include the right of gay marriage.

“We strongly request that National People's Congress delegates and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference committee members give their attention to this matter... so that China’s 60 million homosexual citizens can have an equal right to marry,” concludes the letter.

In China, one of the only ways to protest legally is to write a petition or a letter of complaint to the State Bureau for Letters and Calls and wait for a response. According to China Daily, between 2003 and 2007 over 10 million petitions were handled annually.

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Society

Influencer Union? The Next Labor Rights Battle May Be For Social Media Creators

With the end of the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, the creator economy is the next frontier for organized labor.

​photograph of a smartphone on a selfie stick

Smartphone on a selfie stick

Steve Gale/Unsplash
David Craig and Stuart Cunningham

Hollywood writers and actors recently proved that they could go toe-to-toe with powerful media conglomerates. After going on strike in the summer of 2023, they secured better pay, more transparency from streaming services and safeguards from having their work exploited or replaced by artificial intelligence.

But the future of entertainment extends well beyond Hollywood. Social media creators – otherwise known as influencers, YouTubers, TikTokers, vloggers and live streamers – entertain and inform a vast portion of the planet.

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For the past decade, we’ve mapped the contours and dimensions of the global social media entertainment industry. Unlike their Hollywood counterparts, these creators struggle to be seen as entertainers worthy of basic labor protections.

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