History in the making

The time has (finally) come.

When I opened up FB this morning, a fellow fan from the forums had posted this video.  When I read the title, I thought I misread something.  I had to read it again to make sure I wasn't confusing my Chinese characters.

HOCC is out.

*shock*

Having followed her career for the last 10+ years, the fact that she's les is nothing new at all.  You'd have to be pretty stupid to not know or suspect.  But the fact that's she's actually come out to the world is.

Or at least somewhat.

Over the last few days, hocc's posted a lot of things in relation to HK Pride and the legislative issues that have happened over the week.  It's the first time she's been so actively and openly posting and writing about these issues.  If you've been a die hard fan long enough like me, it's pretty easy to notice that something is going on.  When her name started appearing as a guest for the parade, I already figured this was going to happen.

But, still, it's still quite shocking to see it happen for real.  After watching her strategically evade the questions and comments all these years, this is definitely still quite unreal.

As I watched all this unfolding these past few days, I was reminded of things from the forums.

Many years ago, when the forums were still very active, there were some controversial discussions when 勞斯萊斯 was released.  For the most part, fans were not surprised about what she was doing and were quite supportive.  But one discussion on one of the more popular English forums caught some attention.

Someone had commented that it was a stupid move for hocc to so openly and obviously bring homosexuality into her song and musical.  Yes, it was already done before, but much more subtly, since most people do not understand what 露絲瑪麗 and 再見露絲瑪麗 are talking about.  This particular fan also commented that hocc was almost throwing out her career by doing this.

I guess this became controversial because hocc, herself, came and commented, and was a little angered by the comment.  And, naturally, a lot of fans would echo what hocc said.

I no longer remember the details of that discussion.  I tried to find it again today, but it appears that the forum no longer exists.


What did I think way back then?  I don't remember.  But I was in no position to comment.  There were other more important things at stake for me.

What do I think now?

Perhaps this is the right time.  After the events in the legislative council this past week, the gay/les community needs a strong voice like hocc more than ever.  Now, in this day and age, after all these years, she has the power to do it.  Hocc has already established herself and her career to a point where coming out to the public probably won't affect anything.  If anything, the world loves her even more now.

I came across this blog post:

dare to love

I can no longer remember exactly who's blog it is, but I know it's one of the old-timers from the forums.  It basically sums up what I think.  If you were following hocc back then, chances are you've become silent but have never left and have always been watching.

HOCC, you make us proud.

After all this, what I'm curious to know is what the fan that made the controversial comment then thinks.  Did she watch all this unfold?  What does she think now?

I guess, looking back, I can see why she made those comments.  As she once said, it's better to play it safe until the right time comes, than to risk losing everything.


*sigh*

You're right.  Playing it safe probably made sense and was much more rational than jumping into the situation.  Perhaps things could have turned out a lot worse.

Except...I don't know what would have happened if I didn't listen...but I do know that playing it safe has cost me everything......

Including you.