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24 Jan 2011

Hong Kong NGOs to campaign against homophobic bullying in schools

With Mr Gay Hong Kong Heihei Yau as the ambassador for the ‘Tongzhi Tsai’ (Junior Tongzhi) campaign, the Boys and Girls Clubs Association (BGCA) and Tongzhi Community Joint Meeting (TCJM) are gearing up to address the issue of homophobic bullying and the use of ex-gay reparative therapy literature in schools.

 Fighting back against homophobic bullying in schools has been a lonely and dispiriting task till now for the Hong Kong NGO, the Boys and Girls Clubs Association (BGCA). They raised this issue almost alone and initially unnoticed once they started to realise there was a problem that had so far not been recognised in Hong Kong’s schools and so which no one had so far addressed. In July 2009, they conducted an online survey which found alarming levels of homophobic bullying in schools accompanied by a complete lack of any institutional protection for the students suffering from it. They released the results to the press that year, to little notice. You can read detail of their findings in the article Fridae.com carried on 13 August 2010, ‘Hong Kong NGO fights homophobia in schools’.

The BGCA were alarmed enough by what they had found to make them determined not to give up the issue, so set out to raise awareness of the problem by mounting a series of showings of the film Prayers for Bobby in a major Hong Kong cinema in June and July 2010. At that stage, the leader of BGCA’s Project Touch, CY Chau, who was leading their effort, reached out to the Hong Kong LGBT alliance, the Tongzhi Community Joint Meeting (TCJM), which immediately saw the need and took up the issue, deciding to make it their major campaign for 2011.


CY Chau of BGCA’s Project Touch (second from left) with other volunteers.

The TCJM appointed a task force led by Barry Lee, the TCJM’s Treasurer and a figure well known in the Hong Kong LGBT community for his long service in the Hong Kong AIDS Foundation. Aided by Brian Yeung, the TCJM’s Joint Chinese Secretary, and others, Barry committed TCJM resources to further research and planned a programme of activism and lobbying that will unroll this year. 

The BGCA survey of 2009 had sought views and comments from students alone, so the task force believed that the next step was to gather supporting information from teachers. An online survey was placed on the TCJM website (you can find it at http://tcjm.org/surveys, where the survey will close at the end of January). It is intended that this, with the original student survey of 2009, will enable the team to attract the interest of one of Hong Kong’s university departments to fund an academic study that will give a published, peer-reviewed report that can be used in lobbying Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (Legco), the Government and the public.

The task force took up the issue last year with Hong Kong’s Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), and found considerable support from its new Chairperson, Mr Lam Woon-kwong, who, though having no statutory powers to take up the matter (Hong Kong has no legislation yet against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender) offered his support. Mr Lam has already started to speak in public on the issue and has indicated in his statements that he would like to see the EOC empowered to protect bullied students (for more on Mr Lam, see below).

While this was going on, James Gannaban, also a TCJM Committee member and promoter of the annual Mr Gay Hong Kong (MGHK), saw the opportunity to make use of the publicity that surrounds the MGHK pageant to focus public awareness on homophobic bullying. The six contestants for November’s MGHK competition were enlisted in what James entitled the Tongzhi Tsai (同志仔) campaign (which roughly translates as ‘gay little brother’; details are online at: tcjm.oirg/tongzhi-tsai. The competition featured an essay competition for bullied students. You can listen to the impassioned plea for bullied students Barry Lee made at the pageant on Youtube.



Mr Gay Hong Kong, Heihei Yau, who took the crown last year, will be the ambassador of the Tongzhi Tsai (同志仔) campaign in 2011. Photo: Facebook

This year’s Mr Gay Hong Kong, Heihei Yau, who took the crown at the grand finale on 26 November, will be the champion of the Tongzhi Tsai campaign during the year. He has already appeared in public speaking on the issue, this at Hong Kong’s Human Rights Day Fair on 12 December. After he has taken part in the Mr Gay World final in Manila in March, he will return to Hong Kong to carry on the fight during his tenure.

At the end of the summer of 2010, Chris Lincoln, presenter of TVB’s Pearl Report (a topical and hard-hitting current affairs programme broadcast in English), contacted the task force with the idea of making a programme on homophobic bullying. He conducted a series of interviews which resulted in a show that appeared on Hong Kong’s screens on 27 and 28 December and on 1 January. The programme included an interview with Mr Lam, Chairperson of the EOC, who confirmed his belief in the need for the problem of school bullying to be addressed officially. The programme is on Youtube.

Change is far from being achieved so far, and the Pearl Report’s investigation revealed a dark side of the attitudes to sexual minorities that lurk below the surface in Hong Kong’s schools. Many of these are run by Christian denominations (Hong Kong has traditionally had its education system on the cheap, with all varieties of missionaries active for over a century in founding and running schools at all levels; the Roman Catholic Church runs over a hundred schools here alone). Chris Lincoln discovered that the Roman Catholic Church has issued an advisory booklet to all its schools on the subject of what it describes as ‘SSA’, or same-sex attraction, by which it means diverse sexual orientation and gender. The booklet stigmatises gay students and peddles the usual mishmash of discredited psychological arguments to support a ‘change of lifestyle’. The protestant denominations are not to be outbid here; the Society for Truth and Light, mouthpiece for many of the fundamentalist churches here, and ally of New Creation, an organisation that seeks to ‘heal’ homosexuality, has issued its own booklet advocating reparative therapy. Alarmingly, the Hong Kong Government’s Education Bureau is quoted in the Pearl Report as finding nothing wrong with the use of such booklets in schools on the grounds that they offer students ‘an alternative view’, a line straight out of the creationalists’ phrase book.

So where does the campaign go from here? The LGBT community is gearing itself up for a long struggle, one which aims at countering the pernicious influence of the homophobic lobbies in schools, persuading the Hong Kong Government to prevent the circulation of religiously-inspired homophobic propaganda there and forcing it to take official measures to counsel and protect its LGBT students. The campaign will clearly seek to have the EOC involved in protecting students. This is something the religious right will oppose vigorously, as, of course, Hong Kong’s schools are where they seek to ‘groom’ young minds, and one can expect a lively reaction from them. Lobbying political parties and Legco, publicising the issue at public gatherings and the use of the media will inevitably all play a part. We will follow the campaign as it unfolds over the years ahead.

Nigel Collett is the Joint English secretary of Tongzhi Community Joint Meeting (TCJM).

Reader's Comments

Comment #1 was deleted by its author on 2011-01-24 22:13
2. 2011-01-24 23:48  
Hi Nigel,

I am confused by the title 'Hong Kong NGOs to campaign against anti-homophobic-bullying in schools'

Is it meant to read as 'Hong Kong NGOs to campaign for anti-homophobic-bullying in schools' or 'Hong Kong NGOs on anti-homophobic-bullying campaign in schools

Regards,
3. 2011-01-25 01:36  
You're right Arthur, didn't notice that till you pointed it out!

Sad to hear that religious propaganda about gays rather than established science or listening to gay people themselves is used in HK schools.

Still, that Mr Gay Hong Kong is really handsome and clean cut, enough to cheer up any depressed adolescent coming to terms with being gay.
4. 2011-01-25 01:39  
"against anti-homophobic-bullying" = no sense to me
5. 2011-01-25 02:21  
The title contains a double negative - thats why it makes no sense.

"homophobic bullying" implies bullying activity based on homophobia - fear or hatred of homosexual behaviour.

"anti" negates the phrase it precedes, so for example "anti war" means against war.

To say "Anti homophobic bullying" means you are against homophobic bullying, which is presumably what the author meant to say.

The problem arises when you say "Against anti homophobic bullying" because there are now two negatives and you are back to being, in effect, "pro homophobic bullying", so the title really should read "Campaign against homophobic bullying", and omit the word "anti"

OK.... now everyone is REALLY confused! :)
6. 2011-01-25 02:31  
seem off and on got some sort of misleading title in here.

Not long ago last year got few, then changed it after some comments. Poor inglisss or just to attract some comments ;p
7. 2011-01-25 02:42  
I am against those who try to stop people from bullying those who are against homophobia, in my sarcastic opinion ;-)
8. 2011-01-25 04:14  
You made a mistake in the title. Being against anti-homophobic means being in favour of homophobic!!!
9. 2011-01-25 07:10  
what is the opposite of anti-homophobic bullying? pro-heterosexual bullying?
anyway, despite the semantics and need to get everyone to a better English school the intention of the article is to introduce a great guy who is trying to make a difference in perceptions about gay people and kids in school and to stop bullies in their tracks, it seems Hong Kong needs to set up a Trevor Project

its really cool he is also standing up to the raunchy, mindless, sexual perversion of the gay community and focusing on gay family values like relationships, love, marriage, safer sex and staying away from gay saunas and meth drug use which give lots of ammunition to bullies and promote negative perceptions about the gay community, young kids know that being gay is more than just some gay activist trying to sell you a ticket to a circut party and coax you into his gay sauna so the activist can make more money for himself under the pretext of improving you self esteem

don't let poor English distract one from the real message and heart felt work at stake to stop these bullies and exploiters of real gay love in its tracks
10. 2011-01-25 07:58  
mr. gay hong kong is super cute by the way and looks great in a suit:) gay dads and my lesbian powerful Chinese mothers in HK just want to hug this kid, any help he needs please call us and we will send him more money
11. 2011-01-25 08:29  
Gavin Rossdale takes his son Zuma to the premiere of 'Gnomeo and Juliet' in Los Angeles... so cool Gavin had a gay fling a while back but now a dad, good movie to see so guys find a date to see it!
12. 2011-01-25 11:33  
I saw the HeiHei a couple of days after he won Mr GHK, he looked really petite in person maybe coz of his shorter height lolz.
13. 2011-01-25 15:24  
Homophobes maintain that homosexuality in humans is unnatural.

I disagree.

Homosexuality is part of natural law. It is nature's way to combat overpopulation. With over a billion Chinese, "a full 20% of the world's population" (see * below), it's about time the Chinese in Hong Kong, and elsewhere, encourage homosexuality, safe sex and abstinence among their prolific breeders.

*http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/chinapopulation.htm
14. 2011-01-25 19:55  
congratulations to tongzhi hei hei, Mr Gay HK

good luck for the campaign against homophobic bullying in schools, a very good initiative, bravo.
15. 2011-01-25 21:45  
wonderful!
16. 2011-01-25 21:46  
wonderful!
17. 2011-01-25 21:46  
wonderful!
18. 2011-01-25 21:46  
wonderful!
19. 2011-01-25 23:13  
good initiative! =D
20. 2011-01-26 00:48  
thank you all for u !!!
and i will try my BEST to do everything for all of u !!
21. 2011-01-26 05:35  
Nothing wrong in declaring one is gay, but the questions of concern are "Is it necessary to declare ?" and " Are you ready/prepared to accept the HARD TRUTHs of the part soceity that is ANTI-GAYs?" "So what if I am a GAY?" is not as challenging to make people think " What is so wrong being a gay in the first place ?" Gays too can be gay (happy) people despite the pressure they face . You don't need to be a straight to be happy. Just be yourself, straights or gays and continue to live together in harmony.
22. 2011-01-26 05:53  
身为一个同志,没什么好怕。 怕的是过不了自己内心的那一关。 怕的是寻找不到爱的人。 怕别人不接受,就不要公开自己的身份。 怕公开后,社会人士用什么眼观来看待,是多余的。 想别人接受自己比自己能接受自己的存在的价值更难。 可是,再难也要快乐的活下去,因为 人生没多少个十年。 管什么人在做,天在看,自己对的起自己良心就好。把握自己的幸福, 珍惜你们相处的每一刻,为你们自己而活下去 !
23. 2011-02-01 17:53  
i watched through the second video all the way through, the stuff they're saying is very interesting, and sad too but the what was the deal with the backing music? ugh!
24. 2011-02-04 19:08  
Cut the Stupid background music ....plssssssss...so we can really listen to this report. Tell the Editor to come to my office!
25. 2011-02-06 03:15  
#13 rppdlifter: Well fyi Mao alrd did that with the infamous 'one-child' policy in China...are you suggesting Chinese elsewhere implement that in their communities? You sound more like the Gestapo than someone genuinely concerned with combatting homophobia.
Comment #26 was deleted by its author on 2011-02-06 03:24
Comment #27 was deleted by its author on 2011-02-06 03:36
Comment #28 was deleted by its author on 2011-02-06 03:36
29. 2011-02-06 03:35  
Quote: 'Pearl Report’s investigation revealed a dark side of the attitudes to sexual minorities that lurk below the surface in Hong Kong’s schools. Many of these are run by "Christian" denominations'

Ah, now we know the root cause of some HK-er's Pinkerton complex :p

Anyway, to Mr Yau: BRAVO!! BRAVO!! ;)
One can tell a GENUINE gay-rights compaigner fr a faux one (poseurs out there take note). This guy wins me over with his SINCERITY...for that, I give you my 500% support!!! ;)

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