A lesbian couple has held a ‘wedding’ in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou to welcome Iceland's Prime Minister Johanna Sigurdardottir and her wife.

The couple identified as Xiaoyang and Xiaoxiao went to Guangzhou’s High Street Wednesday morning (17 April) in white wedding gowns holding hands and kissing, Yang Cheng Evening News reports.

The world's first openly gay national leader, Icelandic prime minister Johanna Sigurdardottir is to visit China next week with her wife of 13 years, Jonina Leosdottir.

Sigurdardottir will meet President Xi Jinping and LGBT activists in China are watching out for how the state and the media react to the lesbian couple.

A gay German PR expert working in Beijing was devastated and humiliated when he lost his job allegedly because his client at Mercedes-Benz found his 'lifestyle' (sexuality) 'unacceptable'.

Stefan Susbauer started working for German PR agency OSK in Beijing as China general manager in June 2011.

Susbauer said OSK told him last year he could no longer work for them because a Chinese executive at Daimler AG (who own Mercedes-Benz) had a problem with his 'lifestyle', claims which have been unsubstantiated. 

Chinese gay rights group Queer Comrades produced a video looking at significant events in the LGBT rights movement in China from September 2011 to August 2012.

The seven minute film uses news clips to show 10 events. These are:

A court in Beijng has ruled that marriages between women and gay men can end in annulment rather than divorce.

The First Intermediate People's Court of Beijing has called for legislation on the matter, Xinhua state news agency reports.

The advantage of the proposals is that the women involved will be officially 'single' rather than a divorcee after the end of the marriage. The annulment option would only apply if the couple were childless.

Chinese concert goers might find they have less opportunities to see Western performers after Sir Elton John dedicated his Beijing stadium show to dissent artist Ai Weiwei, a persistent thorn in the side of the Chinese communist government.

Western musicians have to submit set list and song lyrics to the government, and promise not to make controversial statements, before given permission to perform in the one-party state.

After a 2008 Bjork concert in Shanghai, in which she chanted 'Tibet, Tibet', many Western acts were refused permits to play in China.

Gay Australian Olympic diver Matthew Mitcham reveals in his new autobiography Twists and Turns that he battled an addiction to crystal meth after winning the gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

In the book, to be released on Monday (20 November), Mitcham writes about how he went from the heights of Olympic glory to suffering from anxiety, depression and panic attacks.

The first China AIDS Walk marched along the Great Wall near Beijing on Saturday and raised 150,000RMB ($23,900 €18,500) for the Chinese Foundation for the Prevention of STD and AIDS.

Over 100 people took part, walking in teams or individually along the wall at Jinshanling. Fundraisers wrote messages of hope for AIDS, gave free hugs and enjoyed live music performances during the walk.

Living a gay life in Shanghai or Beijing isn’t too bad these days, with dozens of gay bars and clubs. But what if you are gay in one of China’s rapidly industrializing and hugely populated ‘third tier’ cities? Gay Star News talks to Zhi De and Shao about finding love in in Changchun in north-eastern China.

‘It’s not as difficult as it used to be,’ says Zhi, a 22-year-old college student from Changchun who came out in high school. 'Being a gay is pretty much the same as being a heterosexual person, we have our own way of dating.'

A new documentary by prolific LGBT filmmaker Fan Popo focusing on the growing numbers of out and proud mothers of gay children in China was released online this week on the Queer Comrades website. 

The film, Mama Rainbow, starts with interviews with young parents on the street about how they would feel if their child grew-up to be gay with mixed responses.

Then six supportive mothers and their children in cities across the country talk about what they have gone through together. 

The second phase of a trial into finding a vaccine for HIV started yesterday in Beijing.

Around 150 volunteers, mostly from high risk groups, like men who have sex with men (MSM), will take part in the clinical trial that will last for two years.

One volunteer, Li Yewen, a 28-year-old gay man from Beijing, told China Daily:

Gay diver Matthew Mitcham has qualified to go to the semi-finals after preliminary heats on the 10m diving platform at the London Olympics.

With 32 divers and six rounds, divers across the world came to the British capital to compete for 18 spots in one of the final competitions of the games.

The previous Olympic champion at Beijing four years ago, the Australian scored an impressive 456.2 points and finished in ninth place.

British favorite Tom Daley had a shaky fifth dive, and finished with 448.45 points in 15th place.