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We examine China\u2019s sustained re-enforcement of traditional gender norms, which has rendered queer communities non-existent from official recognition. In this context, we aim to understand how China\u2019s state queer necropolitics has shaped queer organising in the country. From 2021 to 2022, we conducted 26 semi-structured interviews with a diverse cohort of self-identified LGBTIQ+ members and activists across 12 provinces in China. We find that the interplay of legal invisibility and politicised, moralised visibility has placed queer communities under hegemonic governance techniques of suppression. The paper argues that China\u2019s queer necropolitics has established invisible activism. The juxtaposition of invisibility with activism denotes the quiet, implicit, and everyday embodied acts of communal care among queer communities as a form of resistance. Building on the metaphor of \u2018glowing fireflies\u2019 shared by a research participant, invisible activism presents a more sustainable approach than conventional rights-based activism. The paper expands our understanding of politically antagonistic practices, acknowledging the diversity and complexity embedded within queer activism.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/13548565241288466","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,30]],"date-time":"2024-09-30T11:09:14Z","timestamp":1727694554000},"page":"990-1008","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["\u2018The glowing fireflies\u2019: Invisible activism under China\u2019s queer necropolitics"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"31","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2663-1834","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ausma","family":"Bernot","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Griffith University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Fan","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The University of Melbourne"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sara E","family":"Davies","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Griffith University"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,30]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_5_2_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1475-682X.1992.tb00285.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_5_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2059436420949985"},{"key":"e_1_3_5_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822394716"},{"key":"e_1_3_5_5_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.22459\/CSY.2023.04A"},{"key":"e_1_3_5_6_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/14616742.2023.2261948"},{"key":"e_1_3_5_7_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/23289252-6901328"},{"key":"e_1_3_5_8_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-69909-7_3470-2"},{"key":"e_1_3_5_9_1","article-title":"China\u2019s LGBT community caught up in Xi Jinping\u2019s widening crackdowns on big tech, education and celebrities","author":"Burton-Bradley R","year":"2021","unstructured":"Burton-Bradley R (2021) China\u2019s LGBT community caught up in Xi Jinping\u2019s widening crackdowns on big tech, education and celebrities. 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