While being gay in China is no longer illegal since 1997, many Chinese still look at homosexuals and lesbians as perverts or psychologically sick.

To compound the problem, censorship is heavy in China, making it very difficult to disseminate positive LGBT information.

To address this situation, the China LGBT Awareness Campaign rolled out on social media a series of gay advertisements, Pinknews.co.uk reports.

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The series, titled "Love is not a Choice", features several LGBT couples at their homes with encouraging messages such as: "We did not choose to be homosexual. We are just. Happily, the world is big enough for all of us."

According to David Li from China LGBT Awareness Campaign, many gays and lesbians in China don't feel safe in terms of being exposed of their gender preference which could result in them facing problems in their school, work, medical institutions and homes.

Same-sex marriage remains banned in China, fortunately for gay and lesbian couples, e-commerce giant Alibaba and Danlan.org, a news site in China with focus on LGBT issues, sponsored a wedding and honeymoon package for 10 same-sex couple to get married in California.

The "We Do!" contest had over 400 couples who registered by uploading videos of their love stories. The field was whittled to 20 couples who were selected via online voting by 75,000 Chinese netizens.

Finally, a second round of voting was done from February 6 to 9 to select the lucky 10 who flew to the U.S. to take part in a group wedding ceremony in West Hollywood, according to the Parents of Friends of Lesbians and Gays, an organization based in Guangzhou.

In 2014, Alibaba - which has been supportive of the LGBT community in China - had a gay pair in its Single's Day promo video.

Alibaba spokeswoman Melanie Lee said the e-commerce giant supported the contest to help "evoke respect and understanding of homosexuality and support the realization of dreams."

Tagsgays, same-sex union, LGBT