Still, we purposefully leave behind our forebears to carry their trauma alone. This idea of hiding one’s identity might seem like a distant memory to today’s self-actualised youth. Gay men lived in the shadows of society, maintaining their veneer of heteronormative stability by marrying straight women at great cost to themselves and their families. Even before the Aids pandemic, social stigma led to the pathologisation and criminalisation of the global community.
“To survive, they’ve had to ignore who they are,” says director Ray Yeung about the older gay men of Hong Kong, the subject of his latest film, Twilight’s Kiss.įor a long time, the future was inconceivable for gay men.
