Citation

Stotzer RL, Lau H. APLPJ 2012; 14(2): 84-107.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012)

DOI

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PMID

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Abstract

There is a growing body of empirical research on the violence suffered by lesbian, gay, and bisexual ("LGB") people in various parts of the world. For example, one study found that, due to their sexual orientation, twenty to twenty-five percent of LGB people in the United States have been targets of violent crimes. Roughly half of that study's respondents experienced psychological violence through harassment. Another study suggested that there is an average of four prejudice- motivated murders every year against gay men in New South Wales. Research on violence against LGB people has also focused on other locations ranging from France to Mexico to South Africa. Although this body of literature has been growing, there has been very little empirical analysis of violence suffered by LGB people in Asia. This article addresses that gap by examining prejudice-motivated violence directed at LGB people in Hong Kong. Specifically, this article reports the results of a survey in which over six hundred LGB people in Hong Kong told us about whether, and how, they have experienced violence because of their sexual orientation. Cultural disparities can contribute to differences in the ways that violence manifests. Some cultural commentators speculate that aspects of Chinese culture make violence against LGB people rarer in Chinese societies than elsewhere. Thus, one cannot assume that the situation in Hong Kong can be ascertained from research conducted in other parts of the world. Our study sheds light on the situation in Hong Kong by engaging the local population directly. In Hong Kong, there is ongoing debate on whether, and how, the Government should reform laws and public policies to protect the rights and welfare of LGB people. A better understanding of LGB people's experiences with violence would help to shed light on the soundness and urgency of proposed reforms. Before proceeding, it is worth pausing to clarify the scope of the term "violence." In this article, we adopt the World Health Organization's definition of violence as "the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or against a group or community that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in injury, death, psychological harm, maldevelopment, or deprivation." By referring to "power," in addition to "physical force," the World Health Organization's definition encompasses a broad range of actions. This definition includes both physical violence and psychological violence, such as intimidation, stalking, and verbal abuse. The remainder of this article unfolds in five parts. To situate our research in the existing literature, we begin in Part I by providing an introduction to the limited existing research that sheds light on violence directed at LGB people in Hong Kong. We shift the focus to our own study in Part II, where we provide background on our survey method and on our survey participants. In Part III, we discuss our findings regarding experiences of violence. In Part IV, we begin to explore the public policy implications of our research. Although our research has implications for numerous areas of law and public policy, we focus our attention on the topic of education policy as a starting point. Finally, in the Conclusion, we provide a summary of this article's contributions to the literature on violence directed at LGB people in Hong Kong.

Language: en