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. 2020 May 12;20(1):669.
doi: 10.1186/s12889-020-08834-y.

Mapping out a spectrum of the Chinese public's discrimination toward the LGBT community: results from a national survey

Yuanyuan Wang  1   2 , Zhishan Hu  3 , Ke Peng  4   5 , Joanne Rechdan  2 , Yuan Yang  1 , Lijuan Wu  6 , Ying Xin  7 , Jiahui Lin  1 , Zhizhou Duan  8 , Xuequan Zhu  9 , Yi Feng  10 , Shitao Chen  11 , Jianjun Ou  12 , Runsen Chen  13
Affiliations

Mapping out a spectrum of the Chinese public's discrimination toward the LGBT community: results from a national survey

Yuanyuan Wang et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

Background: China has the world's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) population. This study assessed the discrimination experienced by LGBT individuals in China in a comprehensive way, covering discrimination perpetrated by family, media, medical services, religious communities, schools, social services, and in the workplace.

Methods: The current study involved a national survey of 31 provinces and autonomous regions. Discrimination was measured both in terms of heterosexual participants' attitudes towards LGBT individuals, and LGBT participants' self-perceived discrimination. Pearson correlation analysis was performed to examine the difference between heterosexual participants' attitudes towards LGBT individuals and LGBT participants' self-perceived discrimination. Linear regression was used to investigate the association between gross domestic product per capita and discrimination.

Results: Among 29,125 participants, 2066 (7.1%) identified as lesbian, 9491 (32.6%) as gay, 3441 (11.8%) as bisexual, 3195 (11.0%) as transgender, and 10,932 (37.5%) as heterosexual. Heterosexual people were generally friendly towards the LGBT community with a mean score of 21.9 (SD = 2.7, total scale score = 100) and the grand averaged score of self-perceived discrimination by LGBT participants was 49.9 (SD = 2.5). Self-perceived discrimination from family and social services is particularly severe. We created a series of provincial level choropleth maps showing heterosexual participants' acceptance towards the LGBT community, and self-perceived discrimination reported by members of the LGBT community. We found that a higher level of economic development in provinces was associated with a decrease in discrimination, and we identified that every 100 thousand RMB increase in per capita GDP lead to a 6.4% decrease in discriminatory events perpetrated by heterosexuals.

Conclusions: Chinese LGBT groups consistently experience discrimination in various aspects of their daily lives. The prevalence of this discrimination is associated with the economic development of the province in which it occurs. In order to reduce discrimination, it is important for future studies to discover the underlying reasons for discrimination against LGBT individuals in China.

Keywords: Attitude; China; Discrimination; LGBT.

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Conflict of interest statement

Jianjun Ou received support from National Natural Science Foundation of China (81974217).

Xuequan Zhu received support from Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals’ Youth Programme (QML20181905). The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Choropleth maps (unit: percentage): a Heterosexual participants’ acceptance towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons. The general rejection is the sum of the breakdown five dimensions assessment. b General discrimination against LGBT persons overall and by group. c Discrimination against LGBT persons in different environments
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Consistency between results from the current study and Chua et al.’s [22] study
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Consistency between heterosexuals’ rejection and perceived discrimination against LGBT persons
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Correlation between GDP per capita and heterosexual participants’ rejection
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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