Chinese government pressure shutters Beijing LGBT Center
The Beijing LGBT Center, an activist group that also hosted a safe space for members of the Queer community in China, announced its closure on Monday, May 15, in the midst of a "crackdown by Chinese leader Xi Jinping's government," according to the Associated Press. The Beijing LGBT Center is one of several LGBTQ+ organizations forcibly closed in China in the last few years.

Prior to its shutdown, the organization pushed for marriage equality and equal rights, even working with the United Nations Development Programme to conduct a nationwide survey on gender and sexuality in 2015.

Many LGBTQ+ organizations in China don't officially register with the Chinese government, and many have been shut down without the chance to tell the public about their closure.

"Their shutdown makes one feel very helpless," an anonymous activist told the AP. "As groups large and small shut down or stop hosting events, there's no longer a place where one can see hope."