Fare Thee Well Beijing LGBT Centre

he closure of the Beijing LGBT Centre (北京同志中心) on 15 May 2023, only three months after its fifteenth anniversary, caused shock and heartbreak among the Chinese queer community both within China and abroad.One of the largest and longest-running LGBTQ non-profit organisations in the country, the centre had operated as a physical gathering space, a national hub for advocacy and service initiatives, and an incubator for a young generation of queer activists.Even though the organisation had held fast against multiple waves of governmental shutdowns of LGBTQ spaces and organisations (Wang 2021), news of its closure came as no surprise to those who have been actively involved in the movement.In fact, over the past two years, multiple events it organised were forcefully terminated.The organisation was also subjected to constant harassment and threats from the authorities, and public intolerance.When it was in the Xin Tiandi Building in Beijing's Chaoyang District-which in the past housed several important feminist and LGBTQ nongovernmental organisations (NGOs)-the centre had to deal with homophobic neighbours who frequently interrupted its activities and reported them either to the building management or to Beijing LGBT Centre.