Migrant and lesbian activism in Hong Kong: a critical review of grassroots politics

Abstract

This article expands the understanding of the scope of grassroots women activism in Hong Kong to include migrant domestic workers who are non-Hong Kong residents but who have contributed substantially to the economic development of, and sense of gender equality in, the everyday life of Hong Kong. Migrant activists seldom paid attention to migrant workers’ same-sex sexuality, although the same-sex relationships were highly visible in the migrant community. This article takes lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) as a social position that some migrant domestic workers have identified with. By contrasting the work of Filipino and Indonesian LGBT activists in Hong Kong, the article examines how migrant activists address, or neglect the needs of LGBT migrant workers as part of the migrant workers’ movement, and sheds light on the circulation of transnational LGBT knowledges and networks.