Hong Kong's transgender population is furious at the repeated use of the expression 'human monsters' to describe transgender people during a popular ATV programme.
The expression yan yiu, which means 'human monster', was used 23 times in the space of the 11 minutes and 45 seconds on Zebra Online during a segment on transgender people in Thailand broadcast in the city on July 8 and 9. The expression appeared in the subtitles 28 times.
Transgender people in Hong Kong contacted by the Sunday Morning Post said they had found the expression offensive and that they felt exploited by the show hosted by Tao Kit and Lau Tin-chi.
Sam Winter, a professor at the University of Hong Kong's faculty of education and also director of Transgender ASIA Research Centre, said the use of the expression would damage Hong Kong's reputation as a cosmopolitan city.
He filed a complaint with the Broadcasting Authority and asked the TV station and producers of the programme to apologise publicly to the local transgender community. 'It is unimaginable to call transgender people freaks on TV in other developed sections of the world ... you won't hear the word 'nigger' on television in the US.'
The Broadcasting Authority confirmed it had received the complaint and said it would look into it.
