Exploring talk about sexuality and living gay social lives among Chinese and South Asian gay and bisexual men in Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract

Objective: To identify ways Chinese and South Asian gay and bisexual men living in Auckland talk about issues related to sexuality and experiences of living 'gay social lives.' Results will be available to inform health policy and practice.Design: A qualitative design with individual interviews and thematic analysis was used. Semi-structured digitally recorded interviews were undertaken with 27 Chinese and 17 South Asian gay and bisexual men living in Auckland.Results: Four themes in the data related to talk about sexuality and living gay social lives are reported: (a) 'Happy in my skin': Being gay is Ok! (b) 'To come out or not': Managing sexual identity, (c) 'Places to go, people to see': Connecting with others, and (d) 'What's wrong with being Asian': Tolerating discrimination.Conclusion: There are many similarities in the ways these men talked about their identity and sexuality that can be usefully considered by health policy makers and service planners. The concept of gay (and bisexual) sexuality had some salience for the men interviewed, despite the adoption and acknowledgement of same-sex identity being a relatively new phenomenon in some Asian countries. This supports the use of these terms in local health interventions. However, as these men closely managed their gay identity and typically had not disclosed their sexuality to others, including healthcare professionals, interventions to address the skills and comfort of healthcare providers in addressing sexuality in clinical settings appear warranted to facilitate optimal healthcare. These men are not well connected with others and this has implications for HIV health promotion that is based on creating cultural norms among networks to encourage safe sex. Discrimination results in many Chinese and South Asian gay and bisexual men disengaging from connecting with others and should be addressed.

Keywords: Chinese; HIV; Sexuality; South Asian; bisexual; gay; men’s health.