Roman Catholicism and Confucianism on Homosexuality in Hong Kong Before and After 1997: A Postcolonial, Queer, Feminist Perspective and Implications for Chinese Roman Catholic Ethics

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.13169/decohori.2.0025
• Published date: 01 January 2016
• Date: 01 January 2016
• Pages: 25-58
• Author: Lai-Shan Yip

ISSN 2422-6343

horizontes!

decoloniales

Número 2!

Año 2016

Roman Catholicism!

and Confucianism on

Homosexuality in Hong Kong

Before and After 1997

A Postcolonial, Queer, Feminist

Perspective and Implications for

Chinese Roman Catholic Ethics

Lai-Shan Yip

Graduate Theological Union

Resumen

La enseñanza oficial contemporánea de la Iglesia Católica Romana sobre

sexualidad no ha tratado el tema del colonialismo con respecto a la

homosexualidad. La heterosexualidad recalcitrada a través de una

co mp le ja «m al forma ción m utua» e ntre ca to lic ismo r om ano y

confucianismo ha llevado a la invisibilidad y el silencio de católicos queer

dentro de la Iglesia Católica Romana de Hong Kong. Este artículo revisa

la comprensión histórica de la sexualidad en la sociedad China, el impacto

colonial sobre el tema de la homosexualidad y el discurso público reciente

sobre la homosexualidad en Hong Kong. Busca así iluminar el contexto y

la resistencia que llevan a cabo los católicos queer en Hong Kong desde

las perspectivas postcolonial, feminista y queer.

Palabras clave: Sexualidad, Iglesia Católica Romana, Confucianismo,

Hong Kong, Teoría Queer, Poscolonialismo.

Resumo

O ensino oficial contemporâneo da Igreja Católica Romana sobre

sexua lidad e n ão tratou do tema do coloni alism o e m r elaç ão à

homossexualidade. A heterossexualidade calcificada por uma complexa

«malformação mútua» entre catolicismo romano e confucionismo gerou a

invisibilidade e o silêncio de católicos queer dentro da Igreja Católica

Romana de Hong Kong. Este artigo revisa a compreensão histórica da

sexualidade na sociedade chinesa, o impacto colonial sobre a questão da

homossexualidade e o recente discurso público sobre a homossexualidade

em Hong Kong. Assim, busca resaltar o contexto e a resistência mantida

pelos católicos queer em Hong Kong a partir de perspectivas pós-

coloniais, feministas e queer.

Palavras-chave: Sexualidade, Igreja Católica Romana, Confucionismo,

Hong Kong, Teoria Queer, Pós-colonialismo.

Horizontes Decoloniales 2 (2016): pp. 25-58

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ISSN 2422-6343

horizontes!

decoloniales

Número 2!

Año 2016

Lai-Shan Yip ! Roman Catholicism, Confucianism, Homosexuality

Abstract

Contemporary official sexual teaching of the Roman Catholic Church has

not addressed the issue of col onialism regardi ng h omosexuali ty.

Heterosexism calcified by a more complex «mutual malformation» of

Roman Catholicism and Confucianism has led to invisibility and silence

of queer Catholics within the Hong Kong Roman Catholic Church. This

article reviews the historical understanding of sexuality in Chinese

society, the colonial impact on the issue of homosexuality and the recent

public discourse on homosexuality in Hong Kong to illuminate the

context and the kind of resistance of individual queer Catholics in Hong

Kong has been str ivin g f rom po stco loni al, femi nist and que er

perspectives.

Keywords: Sexuality, Roman Catholic Church, Confucianism, Hong

Kong; Queer theory, Postcolonialism.

About Lai-Shan Yip

PhD student at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California,

USA. She holds a Master degree of Theological Studies from Pacific

School of Religion, Graduate Theological Union; a Master degree of Arts

in Pastoral Ministr y and a Master degree of Social Work from Boston

College in Boston, Massachusetts. Her research interests lie in the

intersections of gender and sexuality, feminism, queer studies, Roman

Catholicism, Confucianism, Hong Kong, and post-colonialism. She

currently works at a women’s rights organization in Hong Kong.

Cita recomendada de este artículo!

Lai-Shan Yip (2016). «Roman Catholicism and Confucianism on

Homosexuality in Hong Kong Before and After 1997: A Postcolonial,

Queer, Feminist Perspective and Implications for Chinese Roman

Catholic Ethics». Horizontes Decoloniales 2: pp. 25–58. [Revista digital].

Disponible en: [consultado

el dd de mm de aaaa].

Este obra está bajo una Licencia Creative Commons!

Atribución-NoComercial-NoDerivadas 3.0

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ISSN 2422-6343

horizontes!

decoloniales

Número 2!

Año 2016

Lai-Shan Yip ! Roman Catholicism, Confucianism, Homosexuality

Introduction

Current official Roman Catholic sexual teachings have never

addressed directly the issue of colonialism when sexual codes

largely developed from the European-centered Roman

Catholicism are required to apply across all different cultures

as universal moral norms. Yet, this bears serious implications

for local churches in the Third World when Christian

missionary expansion occurred under European colonization.

Based on European colonial experience, Ann Laura Stoler

(2002: 145) contends that the sexual practice of the colonizer

and the colonized is critical for maintaining the colonial

order, in which the discourses on sexuality also articulate the

bourgeois subjects and discipline domestic recesses of

imperial rule. Protestant postcolonial theologian, Kwok Pui-

lan (2005: 138-140) also points out that Christianity in its

long history has related homosexual acts with the religious

and primitive Other. In line with the caution against the

power underpinnings underlying moral delineations, black

feminist ethicist, Traci C. West (2006: 36-74), finds that the

universal principles of the dominant ethics exclude the

particular experiences or contexts of the oppressed and

marginalized, who are denied full realization of the universal

human rights due to race, ethnicity, class, gender, sexualities,

and the like. Hence, applying universal sexual norms across

cultures may risk serving colonial agenda as well as denying

the full human rights of certain minorities.

Some Roman Catholic sexual ethicists have called for

critical attention to contemporary experience in revising

Roman Catholic moral norms or virtues so that the false

universalizing tendency can be corrected. As early as the

Papa l Co mmi ssion on Popul ati on, Family and Bir th

established in 1963, «the majority report» incorporates the

ne wer m eanin g o f c onj ug al lov e i n c ont em por ary

understanding of human sexuality and considers the use of

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