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The financial powerhouse of Hong Kong is home to a newly emergent, newly confident gay community who have become even more politically and socially active since Britain handed over control to China almost 20 years ago, back in July 1997. So what does the future hold?
Part of the answer depends on who is asked - and on how much they have to gain or lose. Ask the handsome flight attendant based in Hong Kong and he thinks little about the 'scene' here. "I like it the way it is. It's a fun place to come on the weekends."

Ask a lesbian pub owner and the future is given a robust vote of confidence: "This is Hong Kong. Things change here all the time. Hong Kong thrives on small business. Entrepreneurs make this city what it is."

Ask Robin Adams, activist, businessman, drag queen, partner and gay dad. He's staying put. He and partner run a consulting business and have adopted three children. "This is our home. It's very exciting here. We’re going to watch the legislature to make sure they don't back track on any of the civil rights gains of the past several years. This is definitely the time to stay. Like Martin Lee says, if we don't continue to speak up for our liberties they could well erode away in silence."

Ask Julian Chan and he will tell you he is proud to be Chinese even though he felt sad to see the flag of Britain coming down: "when hearing the "God Save the Queen", all a sudden I wanted to cry. After all, we are the generation that was born and grew up in British colonist ruling. The British colony legacy is part of our childhood, part of our growth, part of our life. This is something that main land Chinese and those old communist in Beijing wouldn't understand."

Nevertheless, he was clear and confident in his future as a gay man and a professional. "China cannot afford to lose the support of Hong Kong people. We will speak up to demand rights and oppose repression; we were raised with democratic ideas. I think this will assure a good future. Who knows, maybe China will become more like Hong Kong!"

THE FUTURE

So there are as many answers as there are personal and professional investments. The future is imagined in the in the shape of one’s hope or fear.

That future may be a matter of power politics and big money, but since the handover, Beijing’s appointed leaders in HK have taken pains to assure worried citizens that civil liberties will be respected - as long as they don't "disrupt the needs of a civil society". For the most part, they have held steady although not tightly.

Some of the strategy for the HK gay community must be shaped toward survival, doing good business and keeping politically attuned, and toward active lobbying. The future is in both of these gestures.

So, Hong Kong queers range from brassy, outspoken and active to shadowy, lonely and closeted. Buoyed by almost five years of general prosperity and the re-election of pro-democracy legislators, gay leaders are developing more frequent and bolder ways to push their plan for rights and respect. For the most part, Beijing has kept their hands off the controls of Hong Kong. This giant city pulses with commerce and finance. It also is home to a large and diverse gay community emerging more into their own light and with a voice that is less fearful than ever before.

Unchained from democratic but prudish British rule and cautiously free of Beiing’s paranoia, gay citizens continue their lives much as before, be it stylish or blue collar, secularly sexy or quietly closeted, internationally hip or natively restrained by traditional Chinese.

Plans are still alive to push for legislative reforms, more tongzhi conferences, pride events, film festivals and demonstrations. The raves go on, the clubs, pubs and the saunas thrive as younger generations of gays mature into spending adults and outspoken citizens. The world is changing in southeast Asia for lesbigays and Hong Kong is helping to lead the way.

(Perhaps tangential but still relevant is that since 1997, as if echoing Julian Chan’s words, there have been noticeable changes emerging in mainland China’s gay scene. Less police harassment and more tolerance of gay venues - despite increasingly more government paranoia about the Internet.)

As for Ken, a few years ago he met a Canadian who lives and works in Hong Kong. They spend every weekend together. As the oldest son of the family, Ken is held by powerful traditions of honor and cohesion, so most of the time he lives at home during the week. His mother understands that he has a special friend and she has met Craig several times with friendly results. "She knows", he says, "but as long as she doesn’t have to say aloud what she cannot understand, she is happy for me."

Courtesy www.bluway.com - Revised January 2017.

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