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0 Hundreds of same-sex couples in China and the Philippines are turning to Utah officiants to marry them online as they are unable to ‘I do’ in their own countries.
Officiant Michael Foley, who dubbed himself as a ‘Walmart Jon Favreau,’ has married at least a dozen gay couples in two counties since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when some weddings were forced to go virtual.
Foley was contacted by multiple travel agencies asking if he would be open to conducting marriages in the Philippines. Within no time, the officiant found himself logged on to multiple Zoom calls between the hours of 12am to 3am wearing a suit on top and comfortable pajamas on the bottom.
‘When I got into [online weddings], it was because of COVID,’ he told DailyMail.com. ‘Then I started doing all these for gay couples in the Philippines and now China.’
The officiant, who is also a comedy radio show host, explained he didn’t understand why so many people from China and the Philippines were seeking his services until he found out that gay marriage was illegal in the countries.
‘It’s just not a safe place for gay people,’ Foley said.
Utah allows for officiants and couples to fill out marriage paperwork online, unlike most states in the US, and for just $100. The state also has no residency requirements, which makes the process easier for couples to get married virtually.
Officiant Michael Foley, who dubbed himself as a ‘Walmart Jon Favreau,’ has married at least a dozen gay couples in two counties since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when some weddings were forced to go virtual
Foley was contacted by multiple travel agencies asking if he would be open to conducting marriages in the Philippines. Within no time, the officiant found himself logged on to multiple Zoom calls between the hours of 12am to 3am
About 200 gay couples in China have gotten married virtually in China, despite the country not recognizing them as married
Foley, left, and his wife, Bonnie (right), host the ‘Mikey and the Mrs Morning Show’ together
A majority of the couples he marries are study abroad students in China. He said that gay couples who reside permanently in China may be too afraid to publicly come out.
‘People who live in China are too terrified,’ he said, while referencing the country’s communist leader Xi Jinping.
In June, Foley remotely officiated Shin and her girlfriend, who resided in Xi’an, China.
The happy couple decorated the room in the background with gold balloons floating behind them.
‘We just did it at home because in public, it’s illegal – so we couldn’t do it outside,’ Shin told The Guardian while explaining she found Foley on social media.
‘We invited our family and friends to the Zoom meeting and decorated our room together. My girlfriend drew a picture of us saying “marry me.” It was super cute,’ Shin said.
About 200 gay couples in China have gotten married virtually in China, despite the country not recognizing them as married, according to the publication Rest of the World.
Foley crafts the wedding ceremony around the couple by telling their story for $100. The last wedding he officiated was earlier this week for a couple in Shanghai, China.
The officiant described the scene from his perspective sitting at his kitchen table in Utah. The happy Shanghai couple decorated the room around them as their loved ones watched from behind on a big screen TV.
More than 60 people tuned in to celebrate the couple.
Foley then turned off his computer and went back to bed.
‘Luckily, I can fall asleep easily,’ he said.
The officiant, who is also a comedy radio show host, explained he didn’t understand why so many people from China and the Philippines were seeking his services until he found that gay marriage was illegal in the countries
A majority of the couples he marries are study abroad students in China. He said that gay couples who reside permanently in China may be too afraid to publicly come out
Despite China’s ban, some gay couples have celebrated their love anyway. Ling Jueding and Chen Liang previously shared their story with Mailonline in 2015.
The couple were defying the police, who had warned them against holding their event and had turned up to the ceremony, sparking fears that it could be shut down.
They were also defying the doctor who had once pumped Ling full of drugs in an attempt to ‘cure’ him of the supposed ‘mental illness’ of homosexuality.
But, as they previously explained to MailOnline, they hope their act will help inspire China to move towards a greater level of acceptance of homosexuality, following same-sex marriage being legalized across the US the day before their bash.
The couple was able to securely bypass China’s regime, but it is unclear if they later faced consequences.
Ling (left) and Chen, who is from the city of Shenzhen, met in 2013 at an event organized by Ling’s app firm Zank
Chen hurls a bouquet towards his scrabbling guests who look delighted after watching the ceremony
China officials are known to not take kindly to gay couples and have taken initiatives to prove it.
In October 2021, the country banned video games that featured gay relationships, and ‘effeminate males.’
Under the new rules, characters must have a ‘clear gender,’ and plots cannot have ‘blurred moral boundaries.’
A leaked memo from Beijing said: ‘If regulators can’t tell the character’s gender immediately, the setting of the characters could be considered problematic and red flags raised.’
China also censors LGBTQ content, including entertainment series. Popular shows have been deleted that promote same-sex attraction such as ‘Addicted’ in 2016.
