Watch: The very public gay marriage proposal that's the talk of China

Same-sex marriage might not be legally recognised in China, but the issue has been thrust into the spotlight after footage of an adorable marriage proposal aboard the Beijing Subway went viral this week.

Thousands of people have viewed the video of a man publicly proposing to his boyfriend during the city’s mid-autumn festival on Chinese social media site Weibo, the BBC reports – and the footage has sparked renewed debate about LGBT rights in the Peoples’ Republic.

Dozens of commuters filmed the surprise proposal, which begins with a young man addressing the train carriage by saying: “Today, I invite all the people we know and do not know to bear witness”.

He then pops the question to his boyfriend with a watch, which he places on his wrist after he accepts – to the uplifting sound of cheers and applause from onlookers.

Attitudes towards homosexuality vary hugely in China, and while some shouts of “disgusting” can be heard in the video, it has attracted a largely positive response online.

“Those who say this is disgusting, you are not qualified to judge others,” read one remark that was liked more than 600 times, while another user commented: “You should admire their courage. Just because they are people you don’t understand, and even with the pressures of those looking down on them as ‘sinful’, they are still brave to express their love.”

The video’s publication comes just weeks after Chinese censors approved a movie centered around a gay love story for the first time in the country’s history.

This summer’s US Supreme Court ruling on equal marriage has also help renew interest in LGBT rights in a country where homosexuality was only decriminalised in 1997 – and inspired several Chinese gay couples to demonstrate their love and call for equal marriage by publicly exchanging vows.

Watch the proposal that’s got everyone talking below:

Watch: The very public gay marriage proposal that’s the talk of China

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