Philip Jagenstedt (CC BY 2.0)

China’s leading advocate of one-night stands, sadomasochist sex, the decriminalization of pornography and the legalization of same-sex marriage has announced that her partner of 17 years is a transgender man. The reaction has been overwhelmingly supportive.

The New York Times reports:

After a blogger accused her of being a closeted lesbian, [62-year-old] Professor Li [Yinhe] shot back with a blog post announcing that her partner of 17 years, although born a woman, is a transgender man.

“I am a heterosexual woman who has fallen in love with a transsexual person,” wrote Professor Li, who was married to Wang Xiaobo, a well-known Chinese novelist, until his death in 1997. “I treat him as a man.”

Her announcement has both stunned and intrigued China, where there is little familiarity with transgender men. To the surprise of Professor Li and members of China’s almost invisible transgender population, the reaction has been overwhelmingly sympathetic.

Read more here.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

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