Last fall, as China’s lawmakers neared finalizing the country’s first-ever Civil Code, they opened to public comment its draft chapters on marriage and other areas of law. A newly formed coalition of LGBTQ organizations advocating for gay marriage called Ai Cheng Jia (“Love Makes Family”) saw an opportunity. They could use the official comments process—which typically only receives anywhere from a few dozen to a few thousand submissions—to flood policymakers with calls for marriage equality. It would be a push against the grain. China does not have a political analogue to the U.S. Christian right, but its LGBTQ movement faces its fair share of challenges from both state and society.