In recent years, China’s LGBTQ+ community has been swept up in the Chinese Communist party’s broader crackdown on civil society and freedom of expression. In May 2023, a well known LGBTQ+ advocacy group in Beijing announced it was closing due to “unavoidable” circumstances. Last February, two university students filed a lawsuit against the education ministry after they were punished for distributing rainbow flags on campus.
Well she is in freedom, she was released. She’s just not free to publish. So she is well but not able to do what she loved.
I wouldn’t call it freedom. If she’s treated like other “security threats” within China, then she does not have freedom to travel. She’s likely limited to her city at most, perhaps even just a small area within and has to regularly report to local police. Think of it like probation for people convicted of actual crimes in the West, except without court order, for an unlimited amount of time and with the constant threat of being tortured/disappeared looming over her head. If Xi ever feels like tightening the thumb screws on the Chinese people even further, she’d probably feel the effects before many others. All of this comes with social consequences, as many friends and business partners will be scared away.
So… Just like probation?