ABSTRACT
This chapter examines health activism in the People’s Republic of China by focusing on China’s LGBTQ communities. Using Queer Comrades (Tongzhi yi fanren 同志亦凡人), a Beijing-based queer community video streaming website, as a case study, I discuss some of the tactics that China’s LGBTQ communities use for health communication, represented by the strategic use of digital video (DV) documentaries by a community NGO and video streaming website. In doing so, I examine how health activism effectively combined with media and community activism helps to build communities and promote LGBTQ and community rights while at the same time educating the public. This chapter suggests that health issues are not simply individual problems that can be solved by medical, psychological, and psychiatric interventions; they are political and social issues that involve citizenship rights and societal support.
