Homosexuality needs to be acknowledged and not suppressed in present-day China, said prominent gay-rights activist Gary Wu, speaking to an audience of about 100 in the Adams House Lower Common Room last night.

Speaking through a translator, the 28-year-old journalist and film maker described the discrimination and persecution that gays and lesbians face under China's communist government.

"As a whole, the society doesn't recognize the existence of homo sexuality," Wu said.

Many people do not receive much exposure to homosexuality in the media and are turned against it by government propaganda, according to Wu.

"The government has treated homosexuality as a decadence from the West, as including AIDS, drugs and other things," he said. "The government's attitude towards homosexuality is ignorance: don't ask, don't tell."'

In 1994 Wu helped to organize the Chinese Rainbow, a small group of gay and lesbian "com- rades," a term they appropriated from the Communist party.

Wu said he hopes to support Chinese gays and lesbians who feel pressured by society to marry and have children. Chinese gays and lesbians also frequently face discrimination in finding housing and work, according to Wu.

The gay-rights activist said he has actively tried to disseminate information about gays and lesbians in China, and he has also published two books and produced a film to promote awareness on the issues.

"If you don't have a history, you don't have a future," he said.

Wu said he has faced opposition from the government and was jailed for 13 days after organizing a lesbian disco at the Beijing Women's Conference.

He stressed the need to educate the people of China about homosexuality and the need to educate people outside China about the problems faced in that country.

"Because our situation is a little bit different from the situation in the West, we have to be more careful in choosing our strategies," Wu said. "That's why we need more time to promote this movement."

"So the most important thing for us to do now is to get down to basics, to get the information out to people," he added.

Some audience members said they were impressed by the speaker's comments.

"I think Gary Wu teaches us that there are certain cross cultural views of homophobia," said Tamara T.L. Chin '97, a BGLTSA member and the organizer of the speech. "We need to globalize our resources in solidarity with those brave souls who are resisting policed gender and sexuality under conditions much harsher than in the U.S. and in Europe."

The address was organized by the Harvard-Radcliffe Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters' Alliance (BGLTSA), the Harvard Law School Human Rights Program, the Bromfield Street Educational Foundation and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission