A couple gets their marriage certificates at Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau this December. Photo: CFP

A court-issued report Thursday claimed there has been a rise in the numbers of married women who later discovered their partner is gay asking for an annulment rather than a divorce to avoid social stigma.

Beijing First Intermediate Court said in the report that in some short-term marriages, women who married men who later admitted they were homosexual would accuse their husbands of infidelity to have their marriage annulled. The report did not reveal any figures relating to this trend.

Those women believe that if the marriage is annulled, then their status would revert to "single," rather than divorced, which can better protect their rights. Some wives claimed that they did not have an intimate relationship with their husbands and remained a virgin, according to the court.

This reflects an age-old societal bias against women, said LGBT activists. 

Hu Zhijun, the executive director of PFLAG China, an organization for gay people and their relatives, said "behind the appeal to annul the marriage is discrimination against divorced people. If you are labeled as divorced, especially for women, you will suffer from societal pressure."

But, said Hu, it is inappropriate for a homosexual person to intentionally conceal their gay status.

"In such cases, the gay man should take more responsibility and offer more to his spouse when the property is divided," Hu said.

Xu Bin, director of Common Language, a Beijing-based organization for lesbians, agreed that women filing for an annulment will reinforce negative stereotypes against divorced women.

"The women's appeal [to annul] shows that they think that divorced women are less valuable and are secondhand," she said.

According to Xu, the motives for getting married are diverse.

"Love is just one element. There are people getting married for money, property or a Beijing hukou [household registration] or a green card. It's hard to know why these women get married to a gay man," said Xu.

"Besides, if those marriages should be annuled, how about other occasions when people don't marry for love, like a political marriage?" she said.

One woman, who asked only to be known as Grace, said that she learnt from the wife of her husband's boyfriend that he was gay, after only 23 days of marriage. 

She feels that being labeled as "divorced" will be an obstacle to her pursuing happiness and getting remarried.

"In a traditional sense, most people would rather marry an ugly single woman than a good-looking divorced one. Besides, after the harm and betrayal I suffered, it's hard to devote all my heart to marriage and love," she said.

"The process of getting divorced was complicated. My husband didn't want to get divorced and wanted me to cover for him. He didn't want to pay compensation so as to remain married for longer," said Grace, adding that it took more than six months to get divorced.

Grace said that she hopes the law will be improved, so that this type of marriage can be annulled, and husbands forced to pay compensation.

However, the court pointed out because of the sensitivity to LGBT issues and lack of law and theory in this field, it would be impossible to approve the annulment of the marriage.

It is also difficult to gather concrete evidence to back up the plaintiff's allegations. The usual evidence provided is photographs showing the husband with his lover, the court said.

According to China's marital laws, one partner in the marriage being gay is not necessarily enough to file for divorce, unless there is a complete breakdown in the relationship. A divorce can be granted in situations of serious genetic disease or psychological problems. When a person has been forced to marry or personal security has been restricted, the marriage can be annulled or declared invalid.

Beijing lawyer Lü Fenggang, who specializes in divorce cases, said that there is no basis in law which would grant an annulment to a woman because her husband is homosexual.

According to Lü, it is unnecessary to draft a specific law for such marriages in the short term.

"The law should be of benefit to the majority. If we change the law to benefit a small group of people, it is against the majority's moral standards," he said.