Migrant workers and LGBT activism: A comparative study of Filipino and Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong

Abstract

Situating LGBT activism in a gendered, Asian migratory context, this study asks why and how LGBT migrant workers are able to organize themselves and come out publicly as lesbians, bisexual women, or transgender people in Hong Kong. Which factors are enablers for this phenomenon? A comparison of two migrant groups, namely, the Filipinos and Indonesians, who reside in the same city, will shed light on both the commonalities and diversities of their understanding of LGBT rights as well as their approaches for engaging in the LGBT movement. The study examines the different immersed contexts of the two migrant groups rather than homogenizing “migrant domestic worker” as a universal description of these women. The study adopts an intersectional approach to examine how multiple subject positions, including gender, race, class, and non-citizen status, affect migrant domestic workers who have a same-sex relationship in the host city as well as their practices and activism. Besides, it also adopts an inter-Asia approach to shed light on the flows of knowledge as well as inequalities among Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Indonesia and provide insights into how LGBT activism in Asia is culturally hybrid and diasporic. Qualitative research methods, including participant observation and in-depth interviews, were conducted from 2016 to 2018. I attended LGBT parades and events and conducted in-depth interviews with three Filipinos, two Indonesians, and two Hong Kong people. I also used data from my earlier field work in 2010 to 2012.