Beijing is facing two important test cases on gay and transgender rights this week as China’s traditionally conservative attitudes to sexual and gender orientation are transformed by economic development and globalisation.

北京方面本周面临涉及同性恋和跨性别者权利的两起重要判例案件。经济发展和全球化正转变着中国对于性和性别倾向的传统保守态度。

A court in the central Chinese city of Changsha will on Wednesday hear what could be the country’s first gay marriage case. Sun Wenlin, a 27-year-old employee of an internet company, is asking the court to overrule a local authority that denied him the right to marry his partner, a 37-year-old security guard he met online. Mr Sun’s case argues that Chinese law does not specify that marriage must be between a man and a woman, it only calls for marriage between “one husband and one wife”.

在华中的长沙市，一家法院周三将审理中国可能首起同性婚姻案子。27岁的互联网公司员工孙文林请求法庭推翻当地民政局拒绝为他和他在网上结识的伴侣、一名37岁的保安办理结婚登记手续的决定。孙文林的主张是，中国的《婚姻法》并未明确规定婚姻必须是一男一女，而只说中国实行一夫一妻的婚姻制度。

Mr Sun’s lawyer, Shi Fulong, says he cannot predict success but the case will at least raise the public profile of the issue. “This is the first case of its kind in China . . . A problem can’t be solved if no one knows about it,” he told the Financial Times in an interview.

孙文林的律师石伏龙表示，他无法预测诉讼结果，但本案至少会提高公众对这个问题的意识。“这是中国同类案件中的第一起……如果没有人知道问题存在，问题就不会解决，”他在接受采访时对英国《金融时报》表示。

Gay marriage has become a vexed political issue in many western countries in recent years but in China the social stigma attached to homosexuality remains widespread.

同性婚姻近年成为许多西方国家一个争论不休的政治话题，但在中国，针对同性恋的社会歧视仍普遍存在。

“In China, gays living together is a fact of life, but I don’t see a breakthrough in terms of the law anytime soon. Many homosexuals still suffer for being gay, some live together secretly or have children in heterosexual marriages,” says Du Pingru, a Beijing marriage law practitioner who says he has handled some such marriages that end in divorce.

“在中国，同性恋者同居是一个既成事实，但我看不到法律方面很快会有突破的迹象。许多同性恋者仍然因为是同性恋而遭遇痛苦，有的偷偷住在一起，或者与异性成家，还有孩子，”北京婚姻法执业律师杜平汝（音）表示。他介绍说，他曾接手以离婚告终的此类婚姻的案子。

“Despite long odds in winning this time, in a country where most LGBT people still decide to enter into opposite-sex marriages due to social pressure and stigma, the bravery of this couple is sending a signal to both the local LGBT community and greater China that our ideals around love and marriage are worth struggling for — and something that can be achieved in our lifetimes,” said Steven Paul Bielinski, founder of WorkForLGBT, a non-profit network for Chinese LGBT employees.

“在多数LGBT（女同性恋者、男同性恋者、双性恋者与跨性别者的英文首字母缩写。在现代用语中泛指所有非异性恋者人士——译者注）在社会压力和歧视之下仍决定进入异性婚姻的中国，尽管眼下要赢得胜利的希望不大，但这对伴侣的勇敢行为向当地LGBT群体乃至整个中国发出了一个信号：我们对爱情和婚姻的理想值得为之斗争，而且这种理想在我们的有生之年是可以实现的，”面向中国LGBT员工的非营利网络“上海同志商务”(WorkForLGBT)的创始人毕信乐(Steven Paul Bielinski)表示。

On Monday in the southwestern city of Guiyang, an employment arbitration panel heard what is believed to be another first in Chinese gender rights cases: a workplace discrimination case involving a transgender employee sacked for dressing like a man after being born a woman. “Mr C”, 28, is seeking an apology and compensation.

周一，在中国西南部的贵阳市，一个劳动仲裁委员会开庭审理了被认为是中国性别权利案件中另一起开创先河的案子。这起工作场所歧视案件涉及一个跨性别者，因为生理上是女性却爱穿男装而被单位辞退。现年28岁的“C先生”要求获得道歉和赔偿。

“My sales job performance was in no way negatively affected by appearance. To fire me for this reason is to discriminate against me,” the plaintiff, referred to as “Mr C”, told a local newspaper.

“我的销售工作业绩根本没有受到外表的负面影响。因为这个原因解雇我是对我的歧视，”被称为“C先生”的原告对当地一家报纸表示。

Like the gay marriage lawsuit in Changsha, the Guiyang transgender arbitration may fail in law but succeed in the court of public opinion, legal experts and gay activists said.

法律专家和同性恋活动人士表示，就像长沙的同性婚姻诉讼一样，贵阳的跨性别仲裁案也许无法赢得法庭的支持，但将在舆论法庭上取得成功。

“The transgender employment discrimination case is an enormous step forward regardless of the outcome,” Mr Bielinski said. “This suit has been widely covered by not just online media but also local print and TV broadcast news. This case is raising awareness and will surely inspire LGBT employees to become more visible at work”.

“无论结果如何，跨性别就业歧视案都是向前迈出的一大步，”毕信乐表示。“该案获得广泛报道，不只是网络媒体，也得到当地纸媒和电视新闻的报道。这起案件正在提高人们的意识，必将鼓舞LGBT员工在工作场合展现更真实的自我。”

Homosexuality has a long history in the middle kingdom and was practised by some ancient Chinese emperors. But it was later outlawed and then declared a mental illness

同性恋在中国有着悠久的历史，古代一些皇帝也有同性恋行为。但后来被禁止，之后被宣告为一种精神疾病。

Since 2001 it has been legal and no longer treated as a mental illness, and in the past two to three years Chinese companies have started targeted advertising — especially on China’s social media platforms — towards the new “pink renminbi” market. Taobao, Alibaba’s eBay-like online marketplace, held a Valentine’s Day contest last year that sent seven gay Chinese couples to California to get married, since same-sex marriage is illegal in China.

自2001年以来，同性恋被视为合法，不再当作一种精神病来治疗。过去两三年里，中国企业开始面向新的“粉红人民币”市场投放针对性的广告，尤其是在中国的社交媒体平台上。阿里巴巴(Alibaba)旗下类似于eBay的在线市场淘宝(Taobao)曾在去年举办一场情人节竞赛，把7对中国同性恋伴侣送到加利福尼亚结婚，因为同性婚姻在中国是非法的。