Nearly 200,000 people have appealed to the Chinese authorities to recognise same-sex marriage, in a month-long push sparked by a review of the country’s civil law provisions. The country’s LGBT community and its supporters have been writing to legislators and leaving comments in favour of a change to China’s marriage laws during a public comment period which ended on Friday with more than 190,000 people responding.

Among them is Ling Gu, a lesbian from Wuhan in the central Chinese province of Hubei. All she wants is a marriage certificate. Ling and her partner have had their wedding photos taken and together run a real estate business. In all but the eyes of the law, they are a married couple. In a post on WeChat, China’s popular messaging app, Ling said that if the laws ever changed, she and her partner would register their marriage immediately. “Without a marriage certificate, it’s like a mission we can never accomplish. A blank left in the puzzle of life,” Ling said.

Although same-sex marriage is not banned in China, there are no laws granting it legal status. The Chinese legal definition of marriage states that it is between one man and one woman. A review of the marriage and family section of the civil law reached its third and final stage last month.

In August, at a press conference outlining the latest civil law review, Zang Tiewei, spokesman of the Legislative Affairs Commission of China’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee said the country’s current marital system was in line with Chinese tradition and culture, adding that most countries did not acknowledge same-sex marriage.

Yanzi, director of Guangzhou-based LGBT Rights Advocacy China, put out a call at the beginning of November when public submissions opened, hoping for at least 100,000 messages of support for marriage equality. To his surprise, the goal was reached within days. Read more via South China Morning Post