Beijing - China has blocked a popular website devoted to providing information and support to the nation's large but closeted homosexual population, the website's manager and readers said on Wednesday.
The Chinese language website www.gaychinese.net, which sees 50 000 to 65 000 visits a day mainly from mainland Chinese, has been blocked since April 11, manager Damien Lu said.
Lu said he does not know why the website, operated by volunteers in China, has been blocked as it contains no political or sexually explicit content.
"We have no content that violates the Chinese government's rules," said Lu, a theatre professor at the University of California in Los Angeles.
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'There are several hundred such websites in China, but this is the most important' "None of our staff have been contacted by the police."
Attempts to access the website on a Chinese line were unsuccessful on Wednesday. The website uses a United States server and can still be accessed overseas.
The ministry of public security, which has a unit in charge of censoring Internet content, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Founded by two gay Chinese men in 1999, the website was later turned over to volunteers and quickly grew in content and popularity.
It offers news of interest to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people and information, such as how to practice safe sex and avoid getting HIV and Aids and other sexually transmitted diseases.
A popular feature was its question and answer forum which provided advice on how to develop relationships and interact with family members to many gays living in remote parts of China, hiding their homosexuality, with no one to turn to.
"There are several hundred such websites in China, but this is the most important," said Wan Yanhai, a well-known Aids activist whose group the Beijing AIZHIXING Institute of Health Education has a link on the website.
"It's like a Xinhua news agency for gays. Many people begin to understand themselves after reading the website and many parents begin to understand their children." - Sapa-AFP
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