While coming out as gay to his family and friends was relatively easy for 37-year-old Anthony Man Ho-fung, his concern for the difficulties many other gays and lesbians face led him to establish a counselling service with a group of friends
Same-sex love no longer seems a taboo in modern society, but it's still not easy for some parents to accept that their children are gay. Over the past decade, gay activist Anthony Man Ho-fung has lent an ear to countless worried families of gays and lesbians in an attempt to help them.
'When I planned to set up a hotline for families of homosexuals 10 years ago, some gay friends of mine found it impractical and said no such families would come out,' he recalls. 'But I think I've done the right thing ever since I got the first call.
'The call was from a woman who found out her husband was gay after getting married and having children. She was very calm when talking to me ... But she said it would have been great if our hotline had been set up three years earlier, at the time she noticed the problem.'
Every Friday night, Mr Man and three of his friends - one gay and two straight - from their group Over the Rainbow rotate to take calls weekly. 'We want to fill in the social service gap,' he says. 'No one is doing this except us ... Social workers generally can't help much as they are unfamiliar with gay culture.' The hotline has also received calls from overseas Chinese who desperately need counselling from people of the same culture, he says.
'Although we can only provide peer counselling, not professional counselling, sometimes they just want to talk to a gay, other than their son, to understand him better.'
Now the group often gets referrals from social workers as well, he says.