About half of China's gay people are not sure if they will come out of the closet within the next five years, but more gay women said they plan to come out over that period than gay men, according to a 2016 survey on the country's LGBT community released Monday.
The survey was conducted by Blued, a gay smartphone hookup app, and collected responses from 16,690 LGBT people and 3,310 non-LGBT people.
About 55 percent of gay and bisexual men as well as 49 percent of lesbian and bisexual women said they were not likely to come out over the next five years. However 39 percent of lesbians planned to do so, compared to 23 percent of gay men, according to the survey.
The poll found that family pressure and fears about public acceptance are the major factors that keep people in the closet – 75 percent of respondents spoke about family worries and 61 percent mentioned public perception.
Some 70 percent of LGBT respondents said they live in second-tier or other less developed cities like Chengdu and Chongqing in Southwest China, a greater proportion than in last year's survey, which according to the report indicates the LGBT communities in those cities are increasingly more confident and open to the public.
The survey also showed that 22 percent of gay men and 19 percent of lesbians live in major metropolises, such as Beijing and Shanghai. Around 8 percent of gay men and 9 percent of lesbians live in towns and villages.
