in Hong Kong followed by the gay parade on November 17, and the 18th is the day when the pride comrade parade of migrant workers. The former recorded 12,000 people participating, while the latter only saw a few hundred people on the spot, and the exposure in mainstream media was even less.
Compared to the parade, Migrants Pride is more willing to call itself a whole day of cultural activities. It only holds a short parade from 1:00 to 2:30 pm, organized by eight migrants, and this year is the fourth session. Most of these migrant organizations rely on the only rest days that the servants contribute, that is, Sundays, to operate, and are busy making phone calls and hosting events such as beauty pageants.
Gay parade is mainly purple, and the migrant parade is selected from red, purple, orange, blue and green, representing the LGBTQ group respectively, with dazzling colors and wearing T-shirts of different colors.
With English slogans, "No discrimination! End homophobia! Long live international solidarity! LGBT workers say no to social exclusion!" Migrant workers marched from the Central Hall Square to the west of Standard Chartered Road, their usual gathering corner. Singing and dancing on Standard Chartered Road, like carnivals more than fighting. There is even a makeup brand M.A.C. in the morning, with free stalls, giving them a rainbow and makeup to their faces.
There are 300,000 foreign servants in Hong Kong in the eight million people, most of which come from Indonesian and Philippines , mainly women. On Sundays, their only day off. As for the number of LGBT groups, there is no accurate number because the population is floating, but most of them are female lovers.
Shiela Tebia, chairman of the Gabriela Women's Party of the Philippines, has been in Hong Kong for twelve years. "The march of proud comrades in migrant workers has another meaning, because it is not only discriminated for gay identity, but also because it is discriminated against because of its immigrant worker status." "Lesbians are more visible in Hong Kong. First, they are hiding at home, and their families cannot accept them. The concept of LGBT has emerged, but it has not been accepted." She pointed out that there is a Catholic country in the Philippines, and the church cannot accept LGBT.
organizers announced that more than half of the questionnaires collected by 146 migrant workers have come out to their families, friends and even employers, but only 10% believe they have suffered discrimination. One of the organizers on the stage said: "If you ask carefully, you will find that many people have been bullied, especially their words, but their (migrant workers) reaction is to leave, or be ignored after coming out. If we want to be accepted by society, we still need to explore this problem." About 1.3 million foreign servants in
html, about 18% of the employers have been physically abused. "One of every fifty migrant workers lives in harsh environments such as basements, rooms or storage rooms." Gabriela's spokesman Tina pointed out that the Hong Kong government ignores the human rights of migrant workers. Shiela said that in 2009, when the government studied the minimum wage for all, borrowed domestic workers were also excluded, it can be seen that "the process of human movement occurs naturally and occurs in order to pursue a better life."The 2014 Indonesian maid Erwiana was abused and beaten, which once made Time magazine use the title "Indian servants are modern slaves in Hong Kong". The same employer even involved three cases. Erwiana worked 21 hours a day for eight months and never took a leave. Shiela of
Gabriela also pointed out that there were many cases on her hands because the employer suddenly found out that they were LGBT and was treated coldly first, without warning, and was fired for no reason. Since Hong Kong workers only have two weeks to look for their next employer after their employment contract is terminated, there are many people who have lost their jobs and returned home.
found several participants, all of whom expressed their unwillingness to talk. When they found Rea and Siera, they were posing for a photo with their friends happily.
different colors of clothes represent their identities. Rea is a bisexual, Siera is a gay, and belongs to LIKHA (Philippine Immigration Cultural Institution). They came to Hong Kong for four years and eight months respectively, wearing bright purple and pink clothes, all of which are painted with oil paint for today. Rea believes that “Hong Kong is actually a relatively free place."
Both of them have come out from their families, and Rea is born in a conservative family. "It's better if they don't accept it, I told them that this is me. "The love of migrant workers is also interrupted with migrant workers. Her girlfriend went to work in Taiwan and the two were unable to continue to fall in love for a long time.
"We are also human beings, and we deserve to be treated equally and want to love. "Siera said she chose Don't ask, don't tell's attitude to come out: "But every Sunday is the way we express ourselves. "Both of them said that the support of locals is very important. Soon after that, they returned to the dancing crowd. Candice, a participant of
, pointed out that the "most basic connection between lesbians and migrant workers is not only gay identity, but also marginal groups in the community. Although it can be very different, many immigrant workers in Hong Kong also help with work. For example, some migrant workers have housing problems at work, which are difficult to deal with, humiliate and violently treat. Comrades will also face such difficulties and are excluded by their families at home. Talk about unjust things to strengthen the movement. "
participant Candice once entered the Facebook employer group because of work and saw an employer post complaining: "On Sunday, my sister (the servant) went out to the streets in a gorgeous dress. "The man also said that the neighbor who lived next to him was fanning the flames: "Wow, and the family (now) didn't know who the employer is. ”
Candice continued: “There are some similarities between migrant workers and lesbians. We see that migrant workers are also desexual, and lesbians seem to rarely get involved in sexual intercourse. They (employers) criticize their appearance for their clothes, and some local politician Ip, even said: They have become borrowed from men's sexual resources. In fact, this kind of criticism of appearance is not only lesbians, but also a common malice towards others. "
migrant workers marched, and finally ended with inviting everyone to dance together. People of different skin colors were dancing, white people, foreign servants, locals... all swaying with the music, singing: "Don't let other people live your life, you are beautiful (Don't let others live your life, you are beautiful). ”
picture taken by the author
