In 2008, Zhijun Hu (AKA “Ah Qiang”) founded China’s Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) to help members of China’s LGBTQ community come out to their families, a step Hu wished he had taken before his mother’s untimely passing. Since then, PFLAG has supported thousands of parents across China on their journey toward affirming their LGBTQ children by facilitating difficult-yet-heartfelt conversations, building peer networks, and creating educational resources.
Hu is a Visiting Scholar at the Yale Law School Paul Tsai China Center, where he researches legal and management strategies for how LGBTQ organizations can develop sustainably in China’s rapidly evolving philanthropic sector and regulatory environment.