Beijing, Jan 10 (IANS) A lesbian university student from China's Guangdong province on Tuesday sued the Ministry of Education over discriminatory references towards gays in textbooks.
Qiu, who runs her campaign under a pseudonym, claims some Chinese textbooks teach students that homosexuality is a psychological disorder that can be treated with electric shocks.
"They are an evidence of discrimination, a bad example," Qiu told Efe news, stressing it is important for homosexual students that these texts are removed.
"When I realized I was a homosexual I was scared, I didn't know whether I was normal," Qiu said about how she herself suffered as a result of these texts.
"It made me feel very scared, which is why I don't want other students in my situation to suffer because of such materials," she added.
Despite China decriminalising homosexuality in 1997 and removing it from the list of mental illnesses in 2001, it is still a taboo in the country and several discriminatory references prevail in educational books and manuals.
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