One of the main aspects we celebrate at The Beijing Center is our inclusivity of diverse groups of people. The community we have cultivated includes people of different cultural backgrounds, race, and sexual identity, as we work towards providing more educational opportunities to learn and promote diversity and inclusion.
As part of their student experience at The Beijing Center, our students participated in a lecture event held by the Beijing LGBT Center organization that works towards equality of people of differing sexual identities. The organizations’ representatives educate the public on what it means to be a part of the LGBT community and the steps necessary towards eliminating ignorance and giving way to acceptance and recognition.
The lecture began with an interactive ice-breaker activity prepared by the speakers, who assigned each student an identity that they had to act on. The identities included individuals with differing race, sexual orientation, occupation, age, etc. With their new identity, the students were given statements that they had to decide whether a person with their identity would be likely to take part in. The purpose of this activity was to see varying perspectives and judgments people make based on someone’s identity, primarily as it relates to their gender and sexual orientation.
The following presentation included basic information on the LGBT community, sexual identities and classifications, and how we can all contribute to help stop the projection of assumptions about a person’s capabilities and character based on their gender and sexual orientation. The speakers went on to define the different types of sexual orientations and what the LGBT community is and stands for. To better understand gender roles and sexual orientation, the speakers used personal examples to provide a familiar context. For example, to emphasize the characteristics society assigns to each gender, the speakers recalled a male friend getting bullied in school because he was deemed too soft and gentle – possessing characteristics generally expected of the female gender.
The students ended this lecture by posing insightful and thought-provoking questions, such as: Are certain companies going to extremes by only hiring LGBT people and excluding the rest, creating an imbalance in equality between all people? As is the case with the feminist movement, is going to extremes necessary to get people’s attention and realize real change?
The Q&A session ended with the thought of whether this effort to recognize and accept LGBT people is making things better or worse. By putting the spotlight on LGBT people, this may create pressure to make their sexual identity known, even though it remains a deeply personal and private matter for many.
The Beijing LGBT Center is a non-profit, community-based organization that empowers the Beijing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community by providing social services and organizing advocacy programs. Their work seeks to further the LGBT movement, eliminate discrimination, and achieve equality. Visit their website for details about weekly activities, or contact them by email/phone to make an appointment.
Address: 北京市朝阳区建国路93号万达广场1号楼1803（近地铁一号线D口）
Rm 1803, Bldg 1, Wanda Plaza, Jianguo Road No.93, Chaoyang District, Beijing
Phone: 010-53389307
Email: bjlgbt@gmail.com
WeChat ID: bjlgbtcenter
Website: http://www.bjlgbtcenter.org.cn/s–217.html
Over this past weekend, some of our students enrolled at Minzu University of China took their annual Spring Outing – this year, to Gubei Water Town. Situated about a 2-hour drive northeast of Beijing, the April weather made it absolutely perfect to explore for a spring outing. It surrounds various canals and offshoots of Yuanyang lake.
If you ever want to get a taste of Old Beijing, by far one of the best ways is to visit the hutongs. They’ve conceptually been around all the way since the 1200s, and in their most modern forms exist as protected alleyways and streets surrounded by old traditional houses and neighborhoods in the heart of Beijing and are recognized in China to be an important part of cultural heritage in the city.