From Xinhua via China Daily (link):
Wang Xiaodong, a 35-year-old gay man in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, has spent 6,000 hours over the past three years on volunteer work to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
In December 2004, the Ministry of Health published for the first time the number of Chinese homosexuals as five to ten million. The government has since clearly stated its stance on homosexuality.
Homosexuality, once considered a “mental illness”, is still a taboo in China. Gays and lesbians rarely make their orientation known. “The HIV infection may spread if their sexual activities are not controlled,” Zhang said.
A vice minister of health said last year that homosexuals should be given priority in the fight against AIDS and that they should not be ignored, nor discriminated against (link, in Chinese).
The Ministry of Health estimated, for the first time last year, that there are 5-10 million gays in China and ackowledged that they are the second biggest source of HIV/AIDS (link, in Chinese).
