REUTERS/Ruben Sprich
Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group.
Chinese e-retail giant Alibaba, led by founder and chief executive Jack Ma, will send 10 same-sex couples from China to the USA to get married this summer, since they can't in their home country, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Those all-expense paid wedding trips to Los Angeles and the ensuing honeymoons were the prizes in a contest sponsored by Alibaba and other companies, including Chinese gay dating app Blued, and three LGBT nonprofit groups.
400 couples submitted videos in the contest, with 75,000 Chinese citizens voting on the process, Nextshark reported back in February. West Hollywood Mayor John D'Amico will witness all ten weddings.
Same-sex marriage isn't illegal in China, just completely unrecognized by the state. And so while Alibaba's contest and implicit support of same-sex marriage certainly isn't illegal, it's definitely contrary to Chinese tradition. In the past, Alibaba has featured same-sex couples in promotional videos.