It was only after her partner´s death that He Meili realized the full meaning of marriage.

As a lesbian couple in China, He and Li Qin kept their ties largely unspoken, sometimes introducing themselves as cousins. This rarely bothered He until Li succumbed to complications from lupus in 2016, and Li´s parents demanded that He hand over the deed for their apartment and other property documents under Li´s name.

He, a 51-year-old nonprofit worker in southern China´s Guangzhou city, has joined LGBT activists and supporters in an appeal to lawmakers to allow same-sex marriage, using a state-sanctioned channel to skirt recent government moves to suppress collective action.

"I realized if LGBT people don´t have the right to marry, we have no legal protections," she said. "Others will also experience what I did - and be left with nothing."

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