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Working long hours away from home for low pay and little time off, life is tough for foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, but for some the city has brought sexual liberation unheard of in their home countries.
To Jenny Patoc, a 41-year-old Filipina helper, Hong Kong is the place where she met her girlfriend 15 years ago and where they unofficially tied the knot at their own “holy union” ceremony last year - despite the semi-autonomous territory’s failure to recognise same-sex marriages.
“In Hong Kong, we are free. We can show who we are,” Patoc said in Central on a recent Sunday, where thousands of helpers congregate every week on their one day off.
While conservative attitudes still prevail in aspects of Hong Kong society, for many migrant workers the former British colony is an easier place than home to be gay, particularly those from Muslim Indonesia and the deeply Catholic Philippines.
Roughly 300,000 domestic workers make about HK$4,000 a month as helpers for Hong Kong families, doing household chores and looking after children while the parents are out at work.
They are mainly from the Philippines, Indonesia or Thailand, many supporting their families by sending earnings home.

	In Hong Kong, we are free. We can show who we are

	Jenny Patoc, helper
Conditions can be tough. In a report last year Amnesty International condemned the “slavery-like” conditions faced by thousands of Indonesian women who work in Hong Kong as domestic staff, accusing authorities of inaction.
The findings came just weeks after a Hong Kong couple were jailed for a shocking string of attacks on their Indonesian housekeeper, including burning her with an iron and beating her with a bike chain.
Last month thousands of domestic workers took to the streets demanding justice for another Indonesian helper who claimed that she was left unable to walk after eight months of abuse at the hands of her employer who has subsequently been arrested.
And this week another Hong Kong housewife was arrested for allegedly assaulting her Bangladeshi maid.

	'I wanted to be free'

For Marrz Balaoro, a member of local lesbian support group Filguys Association, coming out was much easier in Hong Kong compared to her home in the Philippines in the 1980s.
“I came to Hong Kong because I wanted to be on my own. I wanted to be free,” Balaoro said.
“My first employer was considerate and she understood my situation.”
After witnessing a lesbian being bullied by fellow Filipinas in Hong Kong, she formed the Filguys Association to help homosexual migrant workers from her country facing discrimination.
Filguys has 400 members and holds regular seminars across the city.
Balaoro said that her struggle to be understood in her home country began in childhood and continued through difficult teenage years.
She recalled how a doctor back home prescribed hormone injections at her parents’ request, in the hope that they would make her look more feminine -- at the age of 12.
“The doctor asked me how I felt when I saw a handsome man,” said the youthful-looking 56-year-old, who was born to a Catholic family in Abra Province of North Luzon.
“Without much thinking, I said I envied him and wanted to look like him. The doctor thought I was a hopeless case.”
She added although the situation has generally improved in her home country, violence towards homosexuals in the Philippines is common, especially in rural areas.
“They think you don’t have a direction in life, and you are treated as an outcast. It’s very difficult,” she said.

	Struggle for privacy
Another hurdle for helpers is finding the space and privacy to express themselves when taking time off from jobs in which they are required by law to live with the families they work for - sometimes in cramped, barely livable conditions.

	When you want to develop your own sexuality, you need private space. But the biggest problem for Hong Kong’s overseas migrant workers is that their private space is very limited

	Yau Ching, social scientist
“When you want to develop your own sexuality, you need private space. But the biggest problem for Hong Kong’s overseas migrant workers is that their private space is very limited,” said Lingnan University social scientist Yau Ching.
Patoc is fortunate enough to be able to rent a small apartment which she uses on Sundays to spend time with her partner. She also sublets part of it to other people looking for privacy.
“Every holiday we stay together and we will do the same. We love each other,” the baseball cap-sporting Patoc said.
Amy Sim, an anthropologist with Hong Kong University, cited reports estimating that 40 per cent of migrant workers in Hong Kong had engaged in homosexual relationships, driven by a mixture of loneliness, curiosity and increased freedom to experiment.
“Isolation, loneliness all come together in migration. What they need is emotional comfort followed by physical comfort. You want to look for somebody who is similar and safe,” she said.


Gay helpers find more 'liberated' life in Hong Kong than back home

Photo: Thomas Lee

Marrz Balaoro (left) and her partner Irene Coles Peji look at pictures from their wedding album. Photo: AFP

Sunday girls

Abellya (in white) and Yoean pose for their "wedding" pictures with dolls, their symbolic children, in January last year.

Indonesian domestic helpers Gina and Tyan in Victoria Park.

From left to right: Mel, 26, Cimot, 33, and Yayan, 27, in Victoria Park.

Yoean and Abellya are given a ceremonial blessing at their birthday party-cum-"wedding".

Participants in Victoria Dancer, an annual dance contest and beauty pageant organised by and for Indonesian migrant workers in Hong Kong.

A couple from the Filipino lesbian group Filguys share an intimate moment at a birthday party.

Long-time couple Marrz and Irene, the founders of Filguys, in their rented home.

Indonesian women pray at the Masjid Ammar & Osman Ramju Sadick Islamic Centre in Wan Chai on a Sunday morning.

An Indonesian dance group practises in Victoria Park.

Filipino helpers gather under the HSBC headquarters in Central on a typical Sunday.

A Filipino dance group rehearses in Central.

Indonesian helpers enjoy karaoke at an internet bar in Causeway Bay Centre, Sugar Street.

A couple from a basketball team consisting of Filipino domestic helpers hold hands during a meeting.

Members of Filguys celebrate a birthday on the beach.

Patrons dance in the Boracay pub and disco on a Sunday evening. Located in Wan Chai, the club caters to Indonesian tomboys and lesbians on Sundays and to expatriates the rest of the week.

Pictures of South Korean and Japanese male pop stars hang from the ceiling of Trendy Saloon. Located on Sugar Street, Causeway Bay, the salon serves Indonesian helpers almost exclusively. Hair stylist Remi claims nearly half its customers ask for a male haircut.

Increase in number of domestic helpers applying for right of abode

Eman Villanueva, vice-chairperson of Filipino Migrant Workers' Union. Photo: Edward Wong

Domestic helper is happier back home, says employer

Supporters of Evangeline Vallejos stage a protest. Photo: Sam Tsang

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