‘Love, Sex and Hope 2013’ Petula Ho Papers © University Archives of HKU


In Hong Kong, from the criminalisa- tion of ‘buggery’ in 1842 when the British arrived in the territory, the decriminalisa- tion of male homosexual conduct in 1991, to the equalisation of the age of consent from 21 to 16 between homosexuals and heterosexuals in 2005, and the inclusion of same-sex partners in a domestic violence ordinance in 2009, these are the defining historic moments worth acknowledging and preserving for our communities. Public archival institutions, including


universities, have a responsibility to collect and maintain documents having a bearing on the history of all citizens, including members of historically marginalised minorities, who otherwise would be placed


at a great disadvantage in terms of docu- menting their histories. Archives have been inextricably linked to the power of place. The meaning of ‘archive’ can be traced back to its root in the term ‘arkheion’ in Greek. An arkheion was the magistrate’s house, where records pass ‘from the private to the public’ and the authenticity depends on records ‘crossing the threshold of a place called archives’. Therefore, it is essential for archivists to safeguard records in their physical custody, and the space of the archival threshold is one of the authorities inextricably linked to governance, power and accountability.8 Archivists are active shapers of the record rather than passive keepers. Through decisions about acquisitions, documenta- tion and access, the character and content of archives can be seen as an exercise in power and control over the memory of a community, an institution, or a person, ultimately shaping the way that history can be understood.


As we cannot safeguard our rights without knowing how they have been undermined or disregarded in the past. In this regard, one of our greatest challenges is posed by silence. The silence and denial surrounding negligence and violations of all rights have been compounded by historio graphical silence, as represented in both archival and historical practice.9 The ultimate role of the archivists in a democratic society is to sustain the evidence which helps that society to know itself. How- ever, this role takes courage and a need to look afresh at the way that archivists work, especially collecting and providing access, in order to prevent future ‘silences’.10


Acknowledgements


Thanks to my friends who helped me with editing and commenting on my drafts including Prof. Elizabeth La Cou- ture, Prof. Petula Ho, Prof. Alex Preda, John Dolan OBE and Dr. Christopher Munn. IP


References


1. Joanna Sassoon, Toby Burrows. 2008. Minority Reports: Indigenous and Community Voices in Archives. Arch Sci 9:1-5.


2. Aimee Brown, How Queer Pack Rats and Activist Archivists Saved Our History: An Overview of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Archives, 1970-2008 in Ellen Greenblatt (eds.) Serving LGBTQI Library and Archives Users: Essays on Outreach, Service, Collections and Access (Jefferson: McFarland and Company: 2011), pp.121-35.


3. Amy L. Stone, Jaime Cantrell, Introduction: Something Queer at the Archive in Amy L. Stone, Jamie Cantrell (eds.) Out of the Closet, Into the Archives: Researching Sexual Histories (Albany: State University of New York Press. 2015)


4. Laurie Marhoefer. Racism and the Making of Gay Rights: A Sexologist, His Student, and the Empire of Queer Love (Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 2022)


5. D. E. Mungello. 2012. Western Queers in China: Flight to the Land of Oz (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield. 2012). p.128.


6. Rainer Herrn, Michael Thomas Taylor, Annette F. Timm, Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science: A Visual Sourcebook, in Rainer Herrn, Michael Thomas Taylor, Annette F. Timm (eds.) Not Straight from Germany: Sexual Publics and Sexual Citizenship Since Magnus Hirschfeld (Michigan: University of Michigan Press. 2017). P.77.


7. Kaisa Maliniemi. 2009. Public Records and Minorities: Problems and Possibilities for Sami and Kven. Arch Sci 9:5-17.


8. Michelle Caswell, Joyce Gabiola, Jimmy Zavala, Gracen Brilmyer, Marika Cifor. 2018. Imagining Transformative Spaces: the Personal-political Sites of Community Archives. Arch Sci 18:73-93.


9. Lyle Dick. 2009. The 1942 Same-sex Trials in Edmon- ton: On the State’s Repression of Sexual Minorities, Archives, and Human Rights in Canada, Archivaria 68: 183-217.


10. Valerie Johnson, Chapter 6: solutions to the Silence, in David Thomas, Simon Fowler, Valerie Johnson (eds.) The Silence of Archive (London: Facet Publishing. 2017)


Faculty of Arts, 30 April 1929 © University Archives of HKU 20 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL DIGITAL December 2023


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