‘No same-sex marriage’

BEIJING:  A court in China on Wednesday rejected a landmark case by two men who  had sought permission to get legally married, one of the plaintiffs  said, a decision that shines the light on gay rights in the world’s most  populous nation. While homosexuality is not illegal in China, and large  cities have thriving gay scenes, same-sex marriage is not legal, and  same-sex couples have no legal protections. Sun Wenlin, 26, had lodged  the suit with a court in the southern Chinese city of Changsha against a  civil affairs bureau that denied him the right to marry. After a short  hearing, the court turned down his request to marry. Sun said. “Of  course I’m not very pleased but I’m not going to give up,” he told  Reuters by telephone. “I plan to appeal.” Sun said he had filed the  lawsuit in December because he wanted to form a family unit with his  36-year-old partner. Sun said he had tried to register to marry his  boyfriend at the Furong district civil affairs bureau in June but was  rejected by an official who told him “marriage had to be between a man  and woman”.