Word: Richard Smith

As proud friends of Brian Leung and RTHK’s program “WE ARE FAMILY” we offer our congratulations in being awarded the Grand Prize (Chinese radio category) in the 14th Annual Human Rights Press Awards.

We caught up with Brian to talk about his radio show:

DS: Explain to our readers what the “We Are Family” radio show is about, who it’s for and how it launched.
Brian: Launched in 2006, “We Are Family” was HK’s first-ever LGBT talk show on a public frequency that deals with sexuality issues on a weekly basis. It’s designed to be a cultural platform for various sexual minorities to speak up. The target audience is not only limited to the local gay community but the public in general. It’s important that we are able to reach out to straight people as well as gay people. Only through healthy dialogues and open discussions are we able to remove stigma and discriminations that have been seeded in our culture and psyche for so long.

DS: How did you find yourself in the position of host of “We Are Family” and was your educational/professional background in media?
Brian: I was approached by the RTHK management four years ago about the initial idea for the show. To be honest, I was quite taken aback by the offer at first. My broadcasting career began in RTHK some 20 years ago. I’m was the last person to believe that a gay program will ever be considered on such a traditional media platform like RTHK. But it was 2006 back when “Brokeback Mountain” caught the world on fire. Suddenly, sexuality becomes a hot topic out in the open. It’s still a taboo but a popular one that everybody wants to talk about. A Gay & Lesbian radio program seemed to be the right idea at the right time. On the other hand, RTHK had been under some criticism for being too commercial in their programming and in direct competition with other commercial radio stations. That explains why they were considering to add more niches to their existing mainstream programming. “Sexual Minorities” is one of them. To look for a suitable candidate to host such an unprecedented program, RTHK wanted someone who was an experienced broadcaster and at the same time well-versed in gay culture. And a big plus if he/she happens to be gay and out too. My profile seemed to fit all the requirements. And together with my past endeavours in Gay & Lesbian netcast (GayStation.com.hk) back in 2000, I guess they considered me the right man for the new challenge.

DS: Describe the response to the radio show from people from Hong Kong over the years. Was the show met with any conflict from government, religious groups or individuals?
Brian: We received several hostile complaints at the start. But judging from the similarities of those complaint letters, we have reasons to suspect that they were all initiated by the same radical religious group. In the end, all the hostile accusations didn’t stand any ground. TELLY only asked RTHK to add a word of listener’s discretion warning at the beginning of the show. Apart from that, for the past four years, we were free to do what we set out to do without any editorial pressures from any parties.
The initial response for the program was very supportive from the community. Even to these days, it’s still considered a very bold move for RTHK to initiate a program of this nature. It’s already a big statement in itself when sexuality can be discussed so freely and openly on such an accessible and long-standing media platform. And to my surprise a substantial portion of our listeners are straight! To them, our show is the only mass media platform where they can pick up some firsthand information on homosexuality. Whether it’s out of pure curiosity, novelty or empathy reasons, I think it’s a good sign that we are able to get the message across to a broad spectrum of straight folks.

DS: You must have enjoyed meeting a huge number of guests on the show – name a few of your most memorable guests and what they were like.
Brian: Stanley Kwan and his coming out story as a teenager… Anthony Wong and his interesting theory on gay aesthetics… MC Jin and his take on homophobia in Hip Hop… Clarence Hui and his memoirs on the making of Sandy Lam, the gay icon… Chet Lam and his queer music travelogue… Soler and their straight flirtation with gay culture… Grasshoppers and their glitzy 80’s camp and unapologetic flamboyance… Joanne and her wondrous male-to-female journey… Queerdom is so much more than who you choose to sleep with. It’s who you choose to be!

DS: What have been your most touching moments with your listeners?
Brian: A straight middle-aged taxi driver told us how he recommended our show
to his long-time lesbian client who had issues coming out to her parents…
After lobbying our audience to participate in last year’s HK gay pride with us, an audience member from Canada flew all the way back to HK just to show her support… Oh, and an audience member mailed me a “Jeff Stryker” DVD for my birthday!

DS: What have been your more controversial shows?
Brian: Two years ago, a lousy straight actor from that lousy film “City Without Baseball” left some lousy homophobic remarks advocating gay-bashing violence in my show. That caused quite a stir in the local gay community and what followed was an online boycott of the film organised by Facebook users. To look back, all I can say is – power to the Queers!

DS: If you could chose anyone you wanted (dead or alive) name your top three guests that you would want on your show to interview.
Brian: 1. Jesus. Questions: Will you burn Elton John in hell eternally for naming you gay in his recent interview? Why you stayed single all your life? You ever been in love? Throughout history, why so much hatred were created in the name of God? By the way, do you dig Lady Gaga?
2. Jodie Foster. Questions: Even Ricky Martin finally joins the club… So with all your talent, status and power, what’s really holding you up Jodie?
3. Oscar Wilde. No questions. Just let him do the talking. I bet his bitchy and witty one-liners would still bite!

DS: How do you think Hong Kong’s LGBT community has developed? – and if you could write an agenda for the Hong Kong government to follow, what would be on your list of sanctions that you would like to see passed for the LGBT community?
Brian: Yes, we’ve come a long way. But on the legal front, we are not moving forward at all. The equality movement is stuck in some comfort zone. The more we feel being accepted (in most cases, tolerated) in society, the less urgent we feel the need to fight for the equal rights we have been deprived for so long. Whether you believe in marriage or not, we should all join forces to push forward marriage equality rights. It’s not just about the right to marry the one we love. It also comes with a whole range of basic rights such as inheritance, migration, hospital visitation, taxation and housing benefits… all that’s crucial in elevating us from our doomed second class citizenship.
And of course, sanctioning anti-discrimination law is very important too. The government keeps delaying this by saying that society hasn’t reached any consensus on this issue yet. If consensus is the prerequisite for all major social changes, women might still not be able to vote, apartheid might still be the order of the day…
Screw consensus! Gay rights are human rights, plain and simple!

DS: How do you see the future of “We Are Family” – are there any further directions you would like to take the show or expand it to?
Brian: The show has been airing every Saturday night for the last four years. Always after midnight and ‘in the dark’. I hope, some day, we will be able to move to some daytime slot when we can speak so gaily and freely in broad day light; somewhere a time and place where we can really see the light…
And what about a 24/7 LGBT channel on RTHK? Is that asking too much?
Well, I didn’t dream that “We Are Family” would ever be a reality some
four years ago, did I?

For more information on RTHK’s “We Are Family Program, visit:
http://programme.rthk.org.hk/channel/radio/programme.php?p=3433
We Are Family @ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/zi-ji-ren/49460979854