Chinese court backs publisher of textbook calling homosexuality 'psychological disorder'

A court in China's eastern Jiangsu province has ruled in favour of a publisher that described homosexuality as a "psychological disorder" in a university textbook.

According to a report published in Reuters, Suyu District Intermediate Court in the city of Suqian said the description resulted from "perceptual differences" and was not a factual error, upholding a judgment made in September last year.

In 2017, the plaintiff, who uses the pseudonym XiXi, had sued Jinan University Press and a company owned by retailer JD.com for publishing and distributing factually incorrect content in the 2013 book on mental health education for university students.

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"The teaching material classifies homosexuality as a psychological disorder, which it isn't," the 24-year-old NGO worker said, adding that she only found out about the ruling on her appeal through her lawyer on February 22.

Homosexuality was decategorised as a mental disorder by the Chinese Psychiatric Association in 2001.