Falun Gong is homophobic

Nathaniel Christopher 34 Comments

Earlier this week I went out for fish and chips with my friend Andrew, his husband Alex, and our buddy Margaret. We’d heard good things about Dundas Fish & Chips located at 2077 Dundas St. in East Vancouver and decided to try it out.

“I just gotta warn you that the owners are Falun Gong people,” said Andrew.  I figured he’d learned that from some wonderfully in-depth discussion with the owner. He is, after all, quite the social butterfly.

”Oh well. I don’t think it’ll be a problem,” I told him. “If they don’t to preach to us I probably won’t even say anything!”

An advertisement for Falun Gong is prominently displayed next to the sign of of Dundas Fish & Chips
An advertisement for Falun Gong is prominently displayed next to the sign of of Dundas Fish & Chips

When we arrived at the restaurant I quickly realized the owners didn’t need to tell Andrew a damn thing. The restaurant was plastered with Falun Gong posters and signs. They also had a table near the entrance with Falun Gong literature and video as well as a petition for customers to sign.

My friends Margaret and Alex enjoy their beverages while waiting for their meal at Dundas Fish & Chips. Andrew has already received his soup.
My friends Margaret and Alex enjoy their beverages while waiting for their meal at Dundas Fish & Chips. Andrew has already received his won ton soup.

“I don’t do religion in the morning or on an empty stomach,” said Margaret who thought it was all kind of creepy.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a religious organisation founded in China  in 1992. Some of their followers describe it as a cultivation of the central tenets of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance. The practice of Falun Dafa also includes meditation, qi-gong exercise as well as the moral teachings of their founder Li Hongzhi.

Falun Gong presents itself as an organization concerned about human rights, particularly their own. They regularly stage protests, and campaigns to raise awareness about the human rights of Falun Gong followers in the Peoples Republic of China.

A table of Falun Gong Literature and DVDs at Dundas Fish & Chips
A table of Falun Gong Literature and DVDs at Dundas Fish & Chips

But they don’t really believe in human rights for all – especially not the gays who they say are not worthy of being human.
Referring to a discussion about human rights protections for gay people in many western democracies Li said “I told them [the students in the West], ‘To be perfectly frank, your government may approve of it, but your Lord does not!’”

A large Falun Gong paintings in the restaurant.
A large Falun Gong paintings in the restaurant.

He has also said that “repulsive homosexual behaviour” bespeaks of a filthy, deviant state of mind that lacks rationality.

Li and his followers predictably use insane superstition to justify their claims. The writings of this “cultivation of practice” make unsupported claims about the existence of deities who have a real hate-on for gay people.

“Let me tell you, if I weren’t teaching this Fa today, gods’ first target of annihilation would be homosexuals,” Li said at the Fa Conference in Geneva, Switzerland in 1998. “It’s not me who would destroy them, but gods.”

Falun Gong stickers and petition at the till
Falun Gong stickers and petition at the till

He went on to claim that humans were created by “the gods” who also set out standards of behaviour and that gay people, not terrorists or murderers, are their number one target for divine incineration.

“When human beings overstep those boundaries, they are no longer called human beings, though they still assume the outer appearance of a human,” he said. “So gods can’t tolerate their existence and will destroy them.”

I have no intention or desire of convincing Falun Gong practitioners that they espouse a very homophobic philosophy but I think those gay-positive people who would support them should know the truth.

Somebody wroter "FALUN DAFA IS A HOMOPHOBIC CULT" on the petition! I wonder who that was...
Somebody wroter “FALUN DAFA IS A HOMOPHOBIC CULT” on the petition! I wonder who that was…

They’ve managed to get support from politically progressive people, including politicians, who are probably unaware of the group’s anti-gay stance. Many of these politicians support gay rights and some of them, including Bill Siksay and Libby Davies, are openly gay or lesbian themselves.

Siksay, who was my MP, chaired an all-party group called “Parliamentary Friends of Falun Gong” which set out to “foster a better understanding of the practice of Falun Gong among Parliamentarians.”

Even babies dig Falun Gong protests!
Even babies dig Falun Gong protests!

In late 2011 Davies introduced a petition in Parliament regarding the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

“It concerns the Falun Gong, which is an organization and a practice we are all familiar with, which is the peaceful and beneficial spiritual practice centred on the principles of truth, compassion and forbearance,” she said.

I fail to see how Li’s teachings about  homosexuality are remotely consistent with truth, tolerance, and compassion. Li exhibits a profoundly bigoted, wildly ignorant, and shockingly hostile attitude towards LGBT people normally attributed to religious figures such as Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church.

Oh yeah, they also had food at the restaurant. It made three of us sick. Perhaps it’s part of their god’s plan for annihilating gay people!

Diarrhea fuel. I had halibut and fries and Andrew had a double cheeseburger with two eggs and onion rings.
Diarrhea fuel. I had halibut and fries and Andrew had a double cheeseburger with two eggs and onion rings.
I am a resident of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada who has blogged here for 20 years. I like to share my thoughts and feelings on my own online space. From 1998 until 2017 I worked as a journalist and I hope to use this website as an archive for all of my stories.

34 Comments

  1. In this era we should all learn to be humanists.
    Those members and the founder Li must have so much time to mind others’ businesses.
    Normally people just live the way they like and have nothing to do with other people.
    Why ruining someone else’s happiness?
    I think in traditional Chinese societies, people emphasize the notion of “family” very much, but what difference does it make if only the genders of parents are different? Parents are awesome not because of their gender but what and how they educate kids. And how about transgender? How does someone wanting to be the gender that fits them bother other people’s lives?
    FLG accuses LGBT as “immoral”, but straight couples can also conduct abuses. They have no knowledge about orientations and simply think that LGBT fits in the same category as pedophilia, pornography, adultery, and polygamy. I guess they have never met a cool gay person like DaVinci.
    These members have so much time to take care of others that they forget to live a happy life!
    (Please note that Epoch Times (DaJi Yuan), NTD, and ShenYuan are all FLG related. And that Communists also persecute LGBTs. I’m a humanist opposing any kind of abuses. Cheers!)

  2. You’re a moron Nathaniel. I’ve eaten there for years…I’ve ignored the propaganda…I’ve ignored the funny characters that hang around there. The food was and still is …great! Maybe you were too busy being gay that you forgot to order. Maybe you do stories on religion not food. Actually, you can’t even write.

    Horseshit.

    1. Thank you for these links!

      (1) Is that an official Falun Dafa Twitter account?

      (2) Yeah… I’m not exactly thrilled about that but at least they provide a link and credit me as the source. I’ve thought about hiring someone to translate my Falun Gong posts into Chinese. I notice that I get a LOT of traffic to my blog from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

  3. Hi,

    I read this blog months ago, and just writing to let you know that the two articles are now at different URL’s: http://en.falundafa.org/eng/lectures/19980904L.html and http://en.falundafa.org/eng/html/zfl2/zfl2.htm

    I used to feel sorry for Falun Gong. It might have been your blog, or something else. I can’t remember. Either way, as far as I am concerned now, they are as much a cult as the Jehovah Witnesses and the Christian Scientists. As an atheist (former Catholic) and LGBT supporter (but straight), I could care less about them. So they are persecuted in China? So are the human rights lawyers, the Tibetans, the Uyghurs, and those who support the Tiananmen Massacre victims.

    One more thing. Falun Gong, stop using “religious persecution”.

  4. What about if it’s true and it’s your chance to change that behavor. You probably got bullied by other male when you were young. and now you search that affection from man because you never had it. You can’t accept fraternal love, you want dirty contact on top of it. We call yoru state of mind from your words. Deep inside you, you might still be able to tell right from wrong, but you don’t listen to your true self.

  5. After a less than stunning performance of Shen Yun today in Boston (I walked out at intermission), I started hunting around online for more information. Turns out that Shen Yun is a performance put on by Falun Gong/Falun Dafa to promulgate it’s worldview. I can’t even begin to tell you how horrified how much money I gave, through the tickets I purchased, to an anti-gay organization. Buyer beware!

  6. Nathaniel, you totally avoided what I said. This debate on homosexuality does not give people free reign to spread hate against anyone who might disagree. The key word being ‘might’.

    Either way, my points and questions were addressed to a human being, not to a ‘homosexual’.

    All ancient religions and spiritual beliefs have a clear and fairly united stance on homosexuality. History, faith and spiritual teachings don’t change just because of a change in social phenomena and you can’t expect them to.

    Everything that you claim to despise in others is what you are spreading yourself. Fighting fire with fire just creates more fire.

  7. I just came across this post through a google search and I’m really saddened by what I’ve just read…

    Why do gays define themselves only by who they have sex with? Aren’t you first human beings? Why does sex matter soooo much, and why are you so obsessed with shoving it down everyone’s throats? Don’t you realize that there are really serious and utterly terrible things happening in the world right now, one being the genocide of Falun Gong practitioners in China? Just because they might not agree with your sexual preference, you write such a nasty and defiling message on a petition that is attempting to save people’s lives? How can you justify this to yourself? Whats more, it’s not like the little fish and chip shop owners wrote the Falun Gong books. Did they say anything nasty to you? Did they have homophobic propaganda on their walls? So who’s the one guilty of hate crimes here? You hate them because of what you think they might think and then you spread the hate online!

    Truly truly sad.

    1. Katy Armor: I would like to hear your thoughts about Li Hongzhi’s teachings on homosexuality. 🙂

  8. Was looking for a good fish and chips place near my house and came across this. I definitely won’t be going there. Boycott these goofs!

  9. I am a Falun Gong practitioner, and although we aren’t homophobic, nor do we promote hatred or violence against homosexuals, we do believe and understand that you shouldn’t do those things either since you’d be endangering the existence of your own soul and are only violating the standards set out for human beings by Heaven itself(if one even believes in such a principle).

    If you choose not to listen to us(or anyone else for that matter) than so be it, but at least do not impulsively assign us the label of “homophobic” since we have no reason to hate nor fear you, or have shown so otherwise in the past.

    1. Akaalis: Did you even read my post or are you just a spam robot? I have addressed the homophobia within Falun Dafa teachings with reference to the applicable passages on their own websites.

      In one breath you declare that neither you nor Falun Gong is homophobic but in the next you state that people who engage in gay sex, or “do those things” in your words, violate the standards set out for humans by “Heaven itself” and this transgression endangers their soul.

      I’m sorry, but putting forth the idea that homosexuality is somehow inherently wrong or “less than” other orientations such as heterosexuality is extremely harmful and totally unsupportable by any credible science.

      If you want to go around and say that being gay is a violation of your deity’s rules and merits some kind of punishment in the afterlife, have at it! But if you are going to do that at least own your shit.

      If you don’t like the “homophobic” or “anti-gay label” then perhaps you should stop defending and parroting Falun Gong’s homophobic bullshit.

  10. Although it wasn’t my intention to eat there because of this post my friend suggested due to the proximity to the laundromat he uses.

    Admittedly I don’t know much about Falun Gong (and the promotion of Falun Gong within the restaurant wasn’t as prominent as anticipated) but I can say that $4.95 (+tax) for a no less than half-decent fish burger and fries is a good deal. I will, however, have to get back to you whether or not it is in fact—and I quote—”diarrhea fuel”.

  11. Frankly I don’t see what the fuss is about.
    They are people with faith in gods, is that unusual?
    If you go to an Indian restaurant you will find their stuff displayed, which I guess is just as shocking 🙂

    In my research about Falun Gong I did not find any protests to ban gay marriage and stuff, only appeals on the chinese communist to stop killing their people in China.

    1. Kuki:

      If you’re going to go off and say gay people (or whoever) are inhuman or degenerate you better have something better to back it up with than the “the gods said so” unless you intend to provide evidence that your gods do, in fact, exist. Otherwise you’re just making shit up and in the case of Li, he’s making shit up that’s quite harmful.

      In Vancouver it’s not unusual for restaurant owners to put up some display of their religion or faith but usually the display is limited to a painting, statue, or small shrine. At the Dundas, however, they were clearly using the restaurant to proselytize. And while I’ve also witnessed that at other restaurants I have never been to an restaurant (even church restaurants) where so much of the wall space was covered with religious propaganda. It was downright creepy.

      I never said that Falun Gong protested gay marriage. And yeah, a rational personal might suppose that a group of people who get killed for their political/religious beliefs would think twice before advocating teachings that further malign a marginalised population.

  12. also… Andrew’s face is priceless. It reads ” gag me, can you believe this shit?”

  13. Projectile vomit in my case: I ordered a single cheeseburger with one egg and they doubled my order. Lost in translation? It’s too bad Falun Gong can’t even fill a single order of tolerance, let alone compassion or truthfulness!

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