International Day Against Homophobia is on May 17. Johannes Pong finds out what the local LGBT community and its fag hags are doing to commemorate.

IDAHO, that’s International Day Against Homophobia, and it’s every May 17. This year, the fourth IDAHO experience in Hong Kong is split into two separate events—on two separate days—a march and public forum in Kowloon on the 17th, and a rally in Causeway Bay planned by a number of organizations on the 18th.

The march in Kowloon emphasizes individual participation, and calls straights and gays alike to action. The aim is to change individual attitudes and gain more mainstream support for gay rights. So if you’re straight and detest homophobia, then hello, get up and do something for your queer friends.

Dominic Fok is part of Autonomous 8A, a organization that is usually more concerned with the government’s handling of public spaces and cultural intervention than gay rights. However, he has decided to put it into their agenda to help out their queer brothers and sisters, helping to organize the march and forum. “If straights are truly anti-discrimination,” he says, “then they should stand up and do something about it.”

Marching Orders
The original plan for the May 17 event was to assemble at the flagpole by the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry pier at 3pm before marching along Nathan Road (holding umbrellas of every color of the rainbow) to the busy pedestrian-only Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mongkok. However, the police have changed the route after they initially negotiated—which has some people questioning the the police’s motives. 

The march’s starting point has been switched to Sham Shui Po and its destination to Yau Ma Tei. Choi Fung, one of the organizers and an “artivist” (an activist who uses cultural or artistic methods to make a statement) says she doesn’t think there is anything suspicious about the decision. 

She believes that it really isn’t just the government trying to shove the gays over to Sham Shui Po—where you only go if you’re looking for fabric, plastic beads or cheap electronics—to cut down their visibility and dampen their voice.

      “We anticipated that the police would not let us go down Nathan Road on a busy Saturday for fear of us affecting the traffic, but hey, we’re trying to fight for space and be heard. Might as well try and get Nathan Road.”

And while most marches and political protests have customarily started at Causeway Bay, snaking to the government offices in Central, they chose to march in Kowloon in order to raise their profile among the wider population. “It’s more about public education, so we decided to march over in Kowloon, to raise the awareness over there,” she adds.

Are We Lacking Government Support?
University lecturer and director of the Society for the Study of Sexuality and Sex Politics, Verdy Leung, who’ll be a guest speaker at the public forum, harbors different suspicions.

     “I don’t understand why IDAHO gets to march down the busiest streets in Causeway Bay for the past few years, and suddenly, for fear of affecting Tsim Sha Tsui traffic, we have to move to Sham Shui Po. It’s a bit ridiculous. We’re just going to walk down a street. There are swarms of tourists and shoppers out there walking too and getting in peoples’ way; do they need to be moved as well?”

       He also notes that it’s quite apparent that lately, the government has clamped down hard on rallies and marches that are not pro-China. “The fact that we have to ‘register’ for a protest march is ridiculous enough already. I guess our rules are still very different from most international cities.”
Still, the public forum will be held as originally planned at Sai Yeung Choi Street in Mongkok. While the topic of discussion is “whether gay high-school students should date or not,” it’s basically a debate over the appropriate age for homosexual behavior, and whether a high-school student should be “out” among classmates.
Guests of the forum include a high-school teacher, as well as two brave young students, and feminist and Chinese University Professor Dora Choi Po-king along with cultural commentator Verdy Leung. The latter thinks that the public discussion on such a controversial topic will shake things up in the busy shopping area.
“For IDAHO’s first few years, we just walked down a main street, chanted some slogans, and made a scene. Just being more visible was a boost to the morale of our community. This year it will be more fun, there’s a public forum that’ll get people to react, have the public participate in discussions, and hopefully wake them up.”
When asked if he thinks they’ll be met with vicious opposition, disgust, or homophobia, he ponders, “I think Hong Kong is quite civilized, but yeah. I’ve done events like this before. A lot of religious groups will suddenly materialize around us, handing out church pamphlets and souvenirs or starting a speech on family values. Well, we hope that they’ll communicate with us more rationally.”

The Great Debate
The topic of debate seems to be a redundant one for most liberals, but Roddy Shaw, chairperson of Civil Rights for Sexual Diversity, thinks that it’s a brilliant gimmick that will get the balls rolling.

     “The media is very realistic. Even Gay Pride events need gimmicks. Good gimmicks generate a lot of noise.” He believes that it’ll provoke people into talking. “My assessment is that Hong Kong is generally not that conservative. As long as you operate within rational parameters, stating your wants and needs clearly, people will listen. And the younger generation are willing to talk.”
When asked about the religious right who seem to be quite vociferous within the city, he states, “Yes, there are a bunch of really loud, moral conservatives, but they’re not the majority. Hong Kong is actually a very diverse city with a lot of different opinions. The moral conservatives are trying their best to take our city back 20 years ago, but in reality, the mainstream has already moved way beyond.”

Online and Involved
The May 18 IDAHOHK rally will be held at 2:30pm at East Point Road, the pedestrian zone behind Japanese department store Sogo in Causeway Bay. In this cyber age, they’ve come up with an interesting idea to call everyone to action, with the IDAHO photo-support: simply take a picture of yourself holding a handwritten slogan and email it to them.

     So Facebook potatoes who hate marching, or the shy who dislike slogan-shouting, or those who are simply in the closet or unable to be out to their family and co-workers can safely send in a creative photo of themselves with a slogan like, “I’m not a cross dresser, but I can try” or “Jesus loves homosexuals.” If you’d like to take part, email your photo to idahohk@yahoo.com.hk.
Connie, member of Women Coalition of HKSAR and one of the organizers of IDAHOHK comments, “It seems to be always raining on the 17th. Plus it’s just way too hot in Hong Kong for a march. So this year, we’re just going to have a rally in Causeway Bay with projectors to project the photos we receive. Or maybe we’ll just have them printed and positioned all over the place, so you’ll be
represented.”

For more information, log onto www.idahohk.org and         www.antihomophobia2008.wordpress.com.