We are a group of IB students who have conducted a study as part of CAS for our IB curriculum. In order to gain a better understanding of the LGBTQIA+ community, we conducted interviews and podcasts to hear from others who are LGBT themselves. As a school in Hong Kong, we understood that the LGBT environment in different parts of the globe varies, and hence people have distinct experiences. Therefore, we also interviewed people from different countries to see if there are any similarities and differences.
Our data collection process was divided into two parts, which were interviews and podcasts. Both were recorded with the participants’ consent, and the podcasts, which serve as an outlet for further discussion will be/have been posted online with voices altered in order to protect their identities. The questions that were used are as follows:
Interview questions:
- How did you discover that you were LGBTQ+?
2. If you were closeted before coming out, how were you treated by people in your life?
3. Was there any difference between being treated as a straight person versus being treated as LGBTQ+?
4. What do you think the general perception of the LBGTQ+ community is? How have you been perceived as an LGBTQ+ person from past experiences?
5. What do you think is holding Hong Kong/your country back from becoming more LGBTQ+ friendly?
6. How do LGBTQ+ rights connect with other aspects of justice?
7. In what ways are LGBTQ+ experiences comparable to other demographics in HK?
8. How can we involve other aspects of identity in LGBTQ+ activism and movements?
Podcast questions
- At what point in your life did you notice that you exhibited signs of (insert), that maybe you weren’t cisgender or heteronormative?
2. Do you think progress for the community should be centered around legal or cultural shifts?
3. Compared to previous decades, do you think there’s been an inherent shift in the way people who disagree with LGBT think? If so what are some prominent features, and are there ways to tackle an increasing demographic?
4. Could you share any pleasant or unpleasant experiences you have encountered before because you were LGBTQ+
5. Do you think there are differences between the LGBTQ+ struggle in (their country) compared to other countries?
6. What do you think should be the method of spreading awareness and acceptance in society as a whole?
All participants had some sort of inkling since they were young; they were not heterosexual and they had feelings which did not conform with ‘traditional’ romantic attraction. Some parents did not accept the fact that the interviewee was queer, and told them that it was because of a certain “phase” that would eventually fade out as their teenage years go by. However, this was not the case, and a majority of those participants remain closeted to their parents till this day.
Some participants think that their peers have been very accepting of them once they come out, while some interviewees were reluctant to come out to their parents. The older people are, the more they tend to be conservative and dismissive of LGBTQ+ identities. Some interviewees think that conservatives who are less accepting of the community are often the ones that are less educated on the topic. Additionally, one of our participants said that in society LGBTQ+ people were seen as flamboyant, expressive and politically active, while another participant said that they were harassed online, but they have come to terms with it.
When participants were asked about what was holding Hong Kong back from being more accepting of LGBTQ+ people, one of them suggested education and legislation were the main factors that could promote progress in the change of mindsets towards LGBTQ+ people. One of their examples was the fact that Hong Kong did not allow same-sex marriage and for same-sex couples to adopt children. Legalising same-sex marriage would encourage LGBTQ people to feel safe coming out, and for the public to be more accepting of the community. The participant also said that their parents did not discuss sex, gender and sexuality with them, which created feelings of confusion. They also believed that parents in Hong Kong need to be more open about these topics with their children in order to create cultural change, tolerance and spread understanding towards the LGBTQ+ community.
On the other hand, when people who are not from Hong Kong were asked, they all said that despite the population in their cities being more accepting of LGBTQ+ people, some members of the government and politicians were holding back progress in legislation and were influential in creating a divide between LGBTQ+ people and the rest of the population. Therefore, problems like homophobia and transphobia have been persistent in their cities thanks to conservative mindsets that have been set in stone.
In terms of how LGBTQ+ rights connect with other aspects of justice, there is a stark and intermediate contrast between Hong Kong and other countries. In Hong Kong, legislation is against the whole idea entirely, due to the CE (Chief Executive) not being supportive of LGBTQ+ rights. Additionally, as stated by one of our interviewees, education plays a large role in society as they believe that this is true for Asian parents or people who are more conservative in general. However, in other places this is different. In a lot of other places such as the United States or the United Kingdom, one interviewee felt like queer people are definitely very involved in political activism and politics (I.E.; queer people have been constantly fearing that their rights will be taken away or having actively being taken away). He had a mindset of “You can’t sit down and watch that happen as a queer person and you have to fight for your rights, existence and respect.” And according to him, that made a lot of queer people politically very active and wanting to stand up with people who are also suffering from injustice. He pointed out that during the Black Lives Matter protests, many queer activists came out to show their support for the movement in the United States and other areas in the world.
When you draw a comparison of Hong Kong and other major cities around the world, our city isn’t a very accepting and open place for the LGBTQ+ community. Some of our interviewees source this to a legal issue wherein gay marriages are not recognized and that gay couples cannot adopt children. This leads to a cultural phenomenon where people think nothing needs to be changed as legally speaking there isn’t a problem, exemplifying the issue of apathy towards LGBT rights.
One of the most glaring observations that can be derived from the results is that older people generally are less accepting of LGBTQ+ people. We believe this is caused by the old beliefs that they grew up with, which were more conservative compared to the values that the many of the youth hold nowadays. These older, more conservative beliefs impacted their perception of the LGBTQ+ population because they were rooted in religion, assumptions, and superstition that prevented them from being educated properly about the LGBTQ+ community.
There were also less LGBTQ+ people who were open about their sexuality back in their day, which meant that there was a small chance to meet an actual LGBTQ+ person, creating a situation where they could only depend on hearsay and rumours to gain an image of LGBTQ+ people before even meeting them. Something else that is related to this is the fact that politicians and people in power who hold old conservative beliefs have been actively trying to impose or block bills, policies and legislation that gives more rights and freedoms to the LGBTQ+ people. This exacerbates the struggle of the community, because they are not only having their rights and freedoms oppressed, but people who grew up with negative perceptions of LGBTQ+ people will continue to discriminate against them. What this means is that although the cities that they live in have people who are more tolerant or liberal, they still wouldn’t be able to enjoy the same rights that their heterosexual peers do. The LGBTQ+ teens that we interviewed thought that a shift in cultural norms was the first step in reaching equality because it changes the way that people think, meaning that politicians will have to conform to popular thinking in order to appease potential voters so that they can stay in power and gain popularity. This would also increase the level of tolerance towards the LGBTQ+ community, giving them a better environment to live in.
In this study, we were able to utilize the opportunity to understand the current state of the LGBTQ+ community better through the words of real life LGBTQ+ people. Despite the small sample size, we still received valuable data from LGBTQ+ to conduct thorough analysis and draw conclusions. It was very insightful to explore and enable the voices of LGBTQ+ teens to be heard. Conducting this study was also a challenge for us because we were mostly inexperienced in doing this type of work, however, it was extremely educational and taught us important knowledge about the LGBTQ+ community.
