China Shuts Down LGBTQ Online Community

Cartoon by @badiucao of Xi destroying the pride rainbow...

 

The space for LGBTQ groups in China is shrinking rapidly with now Tencent deleting the accounts of LGBTQ student groups on WeChat, claiming they had broken rules on information on the internet, making it harder for them to connect virtually.

Several LGBTQ groups were blocked from accessing their accounts on Tuesday and now they have found the accounts have been deleted.

Tencent shut down LGBTQ accounts in China

"They censored us without any warning. All of us have been wiped out," said the account manager of one group who asked not to be identified. 

When attempting to access some of the groups, a message says the group "had violated regulations on the management of accounts offering public information service on the Chinese internet", while others didn't show up in search results.

This latest development is part of a series of actions to shut down LGBTQ groups and events.

In past years Pride Month was celebrated openly in China in major cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

But last August China's biggest and longest-running LGBTQ festival, Shanghai Pride, was cancelled due to pressure from local authorities. This year even fewer events were held, some underground.

"Every year it becomes more and more challenging," one Chinese LGBTQ artist was quoted by CNN. "Events are fewer and advocates are finding it more and more difficult to raise acceptance."

Pride in Shanghai used to be openly celebrated

There were hopes that there would be greater acceptance of LGBTQ in society and the government after homosexuality was decriminalized in 1997 and in 2001 was removed from the official list of mental disorders.

However it looks like there is a crackdown from above to prevent the numbers of LGBTQ increasing since Beijing is desperate for more heterosexuals to get married and have three children. That can't happen if there's a growing LGBTQ population.

With it now being increasingly a taboo subject, it will be harder for those who have just accepted their sexuality or to find a community to reach out to for advice and support.

Hong Kong Scared to Show its True Colours

Cathay Pacific wants to show diversity with this advert, but it's banned in HK

Last Friday Taiwan made a bold statement last week in legalizing same-sex marriages, the first place in Asia to do so.

In a way it threw down the gauntlet on other Asian places to see where they stand, and in the case of Hong Kong, it's still in the closet.

The city's airline carrier, Cathay Pacific also made a daring move with its rebranding with its campaign "Move Beyond", in a bid to demonstrate its diversity. In one of its images, it shows two Asian men wearing suits and holding hands as they walk along a beach.

Other Cathay campaign images are shown in MTR stations

However, both the Airport Authority, which runs Hong Kong's airport and the MTR Corporation rejected showing this image, and other ones are being shown around the city.

Since the news broke about not showing the image of the two men, MTR Corp tried to blame its advertising agency, JCDecaux to reconsider using it in the future. However this wasn't enough for LGBT groups, demanding to know when in the future MTR Corp would use the image.

"What does it mean that they will consider so in the future? What about [this advert] this time?" said Raymond Chan Chi-chuen, Hong Kong's first openly gay lawmaker.

"We reiterate that the MTR Corporation is committed to equal opportunities in all aspects of its business and supports diversity, and it does not tolerate any form of discrimination on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation or any other factor," the corporation said on Monday.

So... why not let actions speak louder than words and post the image in the stations?

Meanwhile, the Airport Authority tried to explain its reasoning not to show the image due to "established guidelines" on how adverts are displayed. 

"In the airport's environment, one important consideration is given to the fact that [the airport] receives a large number of passengers of all ages with different cultural backgrounds from all over the world," a spokesman for the Airport Authority said.

The LGBT community has started an online campaign

He said the advert in question had not been submitted to the authority, perhaps again blaming the ad agency.

In the meantime,  the LGBT community has started an online campaign, getting people, homosexual or not to hold a picture of the banned image and take pictures of themselves in MTR stations or at the airport, and post it on social media.

Already Gigi Chao, daughter of property tycoon Cecil Chao, posted a picture of herself and another woman at the Airport Express where they held up a sign, "#MoveBeyondDiscrimination".

Chao made headlines around the world in 2012 when her father offered HK$500 million (US$63.7 million) to any man who would marry his daughter, even though she was already married to another woman. Two years later he doubled the offer to HK$1 million.

Gigi Chao (left) and friend at Airport Express

Previously Cathay Pacific CEO Rupert Hogg had said of the rebranding campaign: "The inclusion bit is really important. No matter who you are, when you come to work at Cathay Pacific... we want you to be who you are and feel really comfortable and be a productive part of the team and that's what we strive for."

Also, the airline told staff in an internal meeting that one of the key messages of the rebranding was to "fly with pride for our LGBT community allies".

Can we please move forward with this issue? Hong Kong looks like an ostrich with its head in the sand next to Taiwan. We look sheepish in dealing with the reality of diversity in the community instead of embracing it.

The LGBT Fight in Hong Kong Continues

Books on LGBT should be easily available in Hong Kong's libraries

Hong Kong is still in the dark ages when it comes to LGBT issues.

The latest battle is in the city's libraries. In April, an anti-LGBT group, the Family School Sexual Orientation Discrimination Ordinance Concern Group, complained to the Leisure and Cultural Services Department about how 10 LGBT books for children were easily accessible.

Some of the LGBT books in Hong Kong's libraries

The library complied and moved the books, one of which has the title And Tango Makes Three to the "closed stacks" sections of local libraries. This meant readers would need to file a request to borrow the books.

Since then a gay rights activist has applied for a judicial review of the decision, and now Human Rights Watch has written a letter to the head of the Home Affairs Bureau and the LCSD criticizing this arrangement, as it limits citizens' access to information about homosexuality and discriminated against LGBT youth based on their sexual orientation and gender identity.

"Discriminatory placement of LGBT content in libraries not only sends a stigmatizing message that LGBT content is inherently inappropriate, but deprives people of their right to access information that could be important to their development, health, and safety," wrote the group's LGBT rights advocacy director Boris Dittrich.

Roy Kwong can't understand why these books are restricted

He also warned Hong Kong's actions would violate its international obligation to protect equality, and that it could also contradict Unesco's public library manifesto, which states it should provide services "on the basis of equality of access for all".

The LCSD previously said it would adhere to the manifesto but not use library materials to promote a point of view. Hello! This is a library! It is a place to get information whether one agrees with it or not!

Democratic Party lawmaker Roy Kwong Chun-yu, who sat on the government-appointed Public Library Advisory Committee, said it was alarming for the public library to limit certain books, and that doing so was against the norms of an open society.

The fact that the LCSD bowed to pressure from one group without any kind of public discussion illustrates how scared the government is about angering certain groups in society.

Roger Wong is pushing a homophobic agenda in Hong Kong

And the irony is that the Family School Sexual Orientation Discrimination Ordinance Concern Group is convened by Roger Wong Wai-ming -- Joshua Wong Chi-fung's father.

The son is pushing for some kind of democracy in Hong Kong, and the father wants to promote bigotry.

One household, two different views.

Hong Kong needs to be more open to diverse backgrounds, sexual orientation, languages and cultures in order to compete effectively on the global stage.

Why are we letting bigotry prevent us from being better?

Review: Small Talk

Many times A-nu (left) is silent when her daughter asks her tough questions

On the plane back to Vancouver, I watched an intriguing Taiwanese documentary called Small Talk (日常對話) that was released last year. It made its international premiere at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival where it won a Teddy Award for Best Documentary Film. It has also recently been nominated as Taiwan's pick for the foreign-language film category in the Academy Awards.

A-nu is more at ease with her many girlfriends

It is a brutally honest film about filmmaker Huang Hui-chen and her relationship with her lesbian mother A-nu, who is a Taoist priestess at funerals. Huang says in the beginning that even though she has lived with her mother most of her life, she knows almost nothing about her, always not home and wants to know why. Is it because she doesn't love her two daughters? Is it because they were adopted?

Through a series of tough face-to-face interviews, as well as footage meeting her mother's siblings, talking to her mother's lovers past and present, and even old home movies of Huang growing up, we along with Huang find out more about A-nu.

We discover she knew from a young age that she was lesbian and Huang doesn't understand or at times is naive about what it's like to be gay, and we discover how she is very generous and loving towards her several girlfriends.

In one scene, A-nu plays with her granddaughter

When asked to comment about their sister's sexuality, her brothers and older sister either don't want to talk about it or don't seem to care. They seem embarrassed to talk about it, and would rather discuss her failed arranged marriage to a man.

Before when I used to watch Chinese movies, there would be a lot of silence between characters and I thought it was for dramatic effect, but this is what happens in reality. There are very long pauses when A-nu answers Huang's questions, or complete silence; you can tell she is thinking about something but says she won't answer the question and gets up to leave, with Huang left sitting in the chair disappointed not to get more information.

However she is persistent and the climax of the film is quite intense. As viewers we don't quite know what happens in the end -- are things better or worse between mother and daughter?

Huang with her Teddy Award

Although the pace seems slow, Small Talk attracts viewers with its intriguing premise and we go on a journey with Huang to find out more about A-nu. Her lovers recounting how she seduced them are the light-hearted moments in the film and reveal a touching side of A-nu that Huang was completely unaware of, though they are equally balanced by the dark experiences both mother and daughter faced.

The film is executive produced by famed director Hou Hsiao-hsien, giving it not only professional weight, but also an endorsement to talk about LGBT stories. Will we see more from Taiwan? That would be light years ahead of Hong Kong...

Small Talk (2016)
Directed by Huang Hui-chen
88 Minutes