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January 27, 2010

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Gay couple hopes to register legally

CHINA'S first reported gay couple to marry said they earnestly hoped to register their marriage for legal protection.

They have been met with scores of stares every day since their wedding was reported by local media, yesterday's Beijing News reported.

Zeng Anquan, 46, and Pan Wenjie, 27, both from Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, held a wedding ceremony on January 3 at a gay club in Chengdu.

It was the first publicly reported gay marriage on Chinese mainland.

Since homosexual marriage is not legalized on Chinese mainland, the couple said they would register their marriage in Thailand this year. They also planned to adopt a boy.

They said they publicized their wedding because they hoped to remove public discrimination against homosexuals.

They invited about 100 close friends to the wedding and handed out celebration candies to the guests. They exchanged wedding vows and rings as at any ceremony between men and women.

There was also a game section when a blindfolded Zeng was asked to touch hands of some people and tell who was Pan. "I said the first person was Pan and I was right," he said, proudly.

Zeng had been married to a woman for 26 years and had a daughter. He didn't face his true sexuality until 2005 when he first visited a gay club, he told the newspaper.

He said he felt sorry for his family as his gay marriage has caused a negative impact and his daughter's friends had called him to criticize.

Pan's former girlfriends were more open-minded. One of them became his bridesmaid at the wedding, he told the newspaper.




 

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