A group of women hold rainbow umbrellas to celebrate the International Day against Homophobia. File Photo: IC
A court in Shanghai announced it will hear a case in which Changlong Tourist Resort in Guangzhou, South China’s Guangdong Province, is being sued for discriminating against LGBT people by refusing to recognize tickets bought by a same-sex couple.
While the case is a service contract dispute, that is not all there is to the story, Zhong Wen, one of lawyers representing the plaintiffs, told the Global Times on Sunday, adding that the contract shows unfair treatment toward LGBT people.
Chinese online ticket booking platform Ctrip is also a defendant in the case, with the plaintiffs asking Ctrip and Changlong to pay compensation for breach of contract, Zhong noted.
The dispute occurred on May 21 when a Chinese same-sex couple bought an entry ticket for lovers to the Changlong Tourist Resort on Ctrip, but when they tried to enter the park using the ticket, they were stopped by staff, who explained that the tickets were for “one man and one woman.”
The two women were also told that if they still wanted to enter the park, they need to pay 90 yuan ($14.07) to purchase two new adult tickets.
The couple contacted the resort and told managers that they refused to buy new tickets because that would be the equivalent to saying they were not in a relationship and would be a denial of their sexual preference.
The two said that when they bought the tickets on Ctrip, the website did not specify that the ticket for lovers was only available for heterosexual couples.
The couple posted about their experience at the resort on Sina Weibo and wrote that during the phone call with the resort’s employees, they were asked why they didn’t consult with staff about their “exceptional case” before buying the ticket. The complaint department and administrative department both said they were “unable to handle” the issue, adding that they could send their complaint to the local consumer association.
Being described as an “exceptional case” only increased the couple’s dissatisfaction and they continued to request that the park allow them to enter with their original tickets and acknowledge their relationship. However, the resort still refused them entry.
The booking platform apologized to the couple and admitted that the webpage for purchasing the tickets needed to be improved. Ctrip also refunded the couple their money.
The tourist resort has not contacted the couple to negotiate a settlement.
Song Zechen, one of the plaintiffs, told the Global Times on Sunday that the main reason they chose to take legal action is they had not received any positive responses from the resort after contacting it several times or after trying to solve the problem through social media channels.
“If Changlong had shown a little regret at the time and tried to solve the problem, perhaps we would not have made it a legal matter,” Song said.
She said that she was made to feel helpless during the incident solely due to her sexual preference with the resort telling her that “there is no department to deal with your situation” and that it had completely ignored appeals made by members of the LGBT community on social media after the incident by not even issuing a statement.
“That arrogant attitude made me decide to do something to make the voices of sexual minorities heard by enterprises like this one,” she added.
And although Ctrip did apologize, Song said that they still hope the platform can strengthen the review of similar supplier’s products to avoid the content suspected of discrimination appearing on the platform.
Legal means are the only way to force an enterprise to face and deal with its actions, Song noted.
