Host of Hong Kong’s axed LGBTQ radio show reflects on 17 years of We Are Family, and reveals why the cancellation wasn’t ‘something that surprised’ him
- Brian Leung hosted We Are Family, Hong Kong’s only LGBTQ radio show, from 2006 until it was abruptly cancelled in July
- Outspoken on gay rights, Leung blames the axing on ‘tightening censorship’ in Hong Kong, but says he succeeded if he ‘made even one listener feel less alone’
Brian Leung Siu-fai says he thought long and hard about putting together the last episode of We Are Family, the groundbreaking LGBTQ show on Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) that was abruptly cancelled in July, after 17 years on the air.
He didn’t want the final show on July 30 to be a pity party. Rather, he and five co-hosts were determined to keep the tone fun and positive. After all, Asia’s first non-heterosexual radio programme had always been about one thing: hope for a better world.
It was rare for the full team to be on air at the same time. But that Sunday, Leung, Tanner, Uncle Magie, Coco Pop, Simon and Jean all showed up and invited former guests to share what a better world meant to them.
Leung has known he was gay since he was 12 years old. He was already a well-known broadcaster when, in 2000, he founded Gaystation HK, a Cantonese-language webcast targeting the queer community.
But it was when he started We Are Family in 2006 on RTHK Radio 2, one of Hong Kong’s most popular radio stations, that his coming out became widely known.
If I’m not going to run a programme freely, honestly and while maintaining the integrity of what I started 17 years ago, it defeats the purpose
Leung says that the station was far more tolerant back in the early 2000s. At the time, there was a clear shift in public opinion towards the LGBTQ community.
“To be able to run an LGBT programme on RTHK – I think it’s a statement in itself,” Leung says. “[At the time, I thought] it might be cancelled in three months, but even three months could [make] history.”
And so he accepted the station’s invitation and named the programme after Sister Sledge’s 1979 hit song and gay anthem.
“Chosen family is very important to the LGBTQ community,” Leung says. “No one is alone or being left behind.”
He also played with the show’s Cantonese name ji gei yan, which means our own people, changing the tone of the middle character to match that of the Cantonese pronunciation of “gay”.
One major feature of the programme was its “Gaily News” segment, co-hosted by Tanner and Simon, who discussed local and international developments.
“No one archives our history,” Leung says, “so it’s really important for us to write our own.”
Among Leung’s favourite episodes was the fifth anniversary show in 2011. Each co-host invited a family member to talk about one of the biggest challenges for the LGBTQ community: coming out to family. Leung invited his two sisters, a memory that has stuck with him for over a decade.
Leung was only told at the beginning of July that the last episode would air at the end of that month, but says RTHK’s decision “is not something that surprised” him.
“The tightening of censorship is really everywhere in Hong Kong. And if I’m not going to run a programme freely, honestly and while maintaining the integrity of what I started 17 years ago, it defeats the purpose of why I took up the challenge.”
When news of the show’s cancellation first broke, Leung says the response he received was overwhelming. Messages poured in from listeners who had followed the show from primary school to the workforce, from Hong Kong to overseas.
“I’m proud to say I have tried my very best to keep this programme alive over the last 17 years,” Leung says.
“If, over the years, I made even one [listener] who tuned in feel less alone, I believe I have already accomplished something.”
