Wai Ho Too many Asian families believe that it is impossible to be both Asian and gay, according to young glbt Asians who have shared their stories at a just-finished equality and diversity conference hosted by the Human Rights Commission. Asian people coming to terms with homosexuality or preparing to come out to family say they face a strongly ingrained belief throughout many Asian cultures is that homosexuality is something that only western people do. This appears to be reinforced by the predominance of pakeha people, in New Zealand and abroad, who are the most visible faces of glbt organisations and initiatives. "Often it's assumed that being gay or lesbian is seen as a real 'white thing,' says Wai Ho, chair of the conference session titled 'Too Gay to be Asian? Too Asian to be Gay?' "It's often asumed that if you're 'ethnic' then you're not queer, you're not gay, and that's something to navigate." Ho says that the western or english word 'gay' being the almost universal description of glbt people reinforces this view. He says increased visibility of glbt Asians "either in the mainstream or within the Asian cultures" would be a great help. "Without that, understanding homosexuality is tricky for many Asian people." "It's pretty oppressive because if you can't conceptualise yourself it's hard to understand who you are," he says. However, with the passage of time Asian glbt people are starting to be increasingly visible. "As we heard in the forum it's slowly happening," says Ho. You can discuss this New Zealand gay community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 23rd August 2012 - 10:16pm