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epa03600317 Ma Yu Yu (L) and Elsie Liao kiss in a hutong (small alley) outside the marriage registry office where they asked to be married, before being denied, in Beijing, 25 February 2013. Elsie and YuYu are not a couple, but knowing they would be denied the right to get married they intended to draw attention to the plight of lesbians, gay, bisexuals and transvestites (LGBT) in China, dealing with discrimination, lack of social benefits for couples. Although there are no specific laws to protect the rights of LGBT in China, homosexuality is no longer illegal, and it has been removed from from the official list of mental disorders since 2001, and it was decriminalized in 1997. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL