Zhou Dan (; born 19 January 1974) is a Chinese lawyer, scholar and activist based in Shanghai. He is a leading voice for rights of

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

and

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

people in

mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...

. Writing with his real name about being gay on Chinese websites for years, he came out to a local newspaper in Shanghai about his gay identity in November 2003. Since then, as the first openly gay lawyer in mainland China who has spoken out for LGBT rights, his name has been mentioned from time to time in Chinese newspapers, magazines, and television programs.

Activism

In April 2003, Zhou founded the Shanghai Hotline For Sexual Minorities, after a state-run hospital contacted him to help organise a health hotline. The government approval of the hotline made it the first legitimate entity in Shanghai dedicated to the LGBT community. In 2005, he founded Yu Dan – the first Chinese organization promoting recognition and acceptance of LGBT rights in mainland China – serving as its executive director. He had first started giving advice and commentary on LGBT discussion forums online in 1998; and while he doesn't usually provide

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

legal services, he continues to provide free advice to members of the LGBT community over the phone. He also fights for the rights of people living with or affected by

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

in China, by advocating a human-rights-based approach to the

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of hosts in a given population within a short period of time. For example, in meningococcal infection ...

. He successfully lobbied the Ministry of Health to not bar HIV-positive people from government jobs. In February 2015, the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy of the United State ...

hosted Zhou for a screening of the documentary ''

The Blood of Yingzhou District ''The Blood of Yingzhou District'' (; translation: ''The Children of Yingzhou'') is a 2006 short film documentary directed by Ruby Yang and produced by Thomas F. Lennon. The film is about the effect of AIDS on orphans in Yingzhou District of Fuy ...

'' (2006), which is about the plight of children in

Yingzhou District Yingzhou District () is a district of the city of Fuyang, Anhui Province Anhui is an inland province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai r ...

who lost their parents to AIDS.

Education and research

Zhou is an S.J.D. candidate at

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, Harvard Law School is the oldest law school in continuous operation in the United ...

with a dissertation focusing on public interest law in China. He holds LLM degrees from HLS and

Renmin University of China The Renmin University of China (RUC) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. The university is affiliated with the Ministry of Education, and co-funded by the Ministry of Education and the Beijing Municipal People's Government. The ...

. During his undergraduate education, his

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

was in

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

and

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...

. From January to May 2004, Zhou was a visiting scholar at the

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

China Law Center with research emphasis on equality and anti-discrimination related to sexuality and HIV/AIDS. He was a visiting scholar at Yale from September to October 2006, and in 2015 as well. He has also been a visiting scholar at

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

's U.S.-Asia Law Institute. In November 2004, he taught China’s first graduate-school class on homosexuality and social science, and gave a lecture on "homosexuality and law" for the postgraduate course on "Homosexuality and Sociology" offered by the

Fudan University Fudan University (FDU) is a public university, national public university in Yangpu, Shanghai, Yangpu, Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal ...

School of Public Health in Shanghai. The course followed an earlier graduate course on "Homosexual Health" initiated in 2003 that focused mainly on AIDS prevention. He is the editor of ''Homosexuality and Law: Essays and Materials of the International Conference on Sexuality, Policy, and Law'', the proceedings of the first ever symposium in China on legal topics related to sexual orientation, which he co-organized with Yale's China Law Center in 2006. In May 2009, he published a

monograph A monograph is generally a long-form work on one (usually scholarly) subject, or one aspect of a subject, typically created by a single author or artist (or, sometimes, by two or more authors). Traditionally it is in written form and published a ...

– 爱悦与规训: 中国现代性中同性欲望的法理想象 (''Pleasure and Discipline: Jurisprudential Imagination of Same-sex Desire in Chinese Modernity'') – on the dynamics of same-sex desire, law and modernity in China; which was one of the first Chinese-language academic books on the subject.

Recognition

Zhou was profiled in the May 2005 issue of

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

gay and lesbian magazine ''

Têtu Têtu (, French for "stubborn") is the main LGBTQIA magazine published in France. It was subtitled in French () until 2007, and reaffirmed itself as a men's magazine since then. As of December, 2012, its certified circulation was of 41,961 co ...

'', in the June 20, 2005 issue of ''

TIME Magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

'', in the September 5, 2005 issue of ''Southern People Weekly'', in the September 30 issue of ''

China Daily ''China Daily'' ( zh, s=中国日报, p=Zhōngguó Rìbào) is an English-language daily newspaper owned by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party. Overview ''China Daily'' has the widest print circulation of any ...

'', and in the October 20, 2013 issue of ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remaine ...

''. In 2006, Equality Forum, a nonprofit

LGBTQ rights organization LGBTQ rights organizations are NGO, non-governmental civil rights organization, civil rights, healthcare and the LGBT community, health, and community organizations that promote the civil rights, civil and human rights and public health, health o ...

, named him the recipient of the 11th Annual International Role Model Award. He was included in ''Time'' magazine's 2009 list of the 60 most influential people in China, where he was the only openly gay person in the list. He was also profiled in the 2010 documentary titled ''The Cream of the Queer Crop'' (同志她她她他他他) directed by Wei Xiaogang for Queer Comrades, a Beijing-based

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

community video streaming website.

Personal life

Zhou was born and brought up in Shanghai, where he went to law school, and got a job as a lawyer for the Shanghai Shaogang Law Firm. He

came out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

to his family in 2001, and has been living with his partner since 2003.

References

1974 births Chinese HIV/AIDS activists Educators from Shanghai 20th-century Chinese lawyers 21st-century Chinese lawyers Chinese gay men Living people Chinese LGBTQ rights activists Chinese LGBTQ lawyers 21st-century Chinese LGBTQ people Renmin University of China alumni Harvard Law School alumni {{Authority control