What a Difference a Gay Makes

One could say Nigel Collett is quite the man’s man. He spent 20 years in the British Army, which he describes as some of the best years of his life. “The army stretches both body and mind, and also throws you into some fascinating political situations,” he says. Unfortunately, army life didn’t allow for any gay life. Nor did it allow for his lurking desire to write. He soon found himself faced with a stark choice: leave the army or stay in the closet forever. He ended up choosing the former in 1985, while stationed in Fan Ling and Sai Kung. Hong Kong was “like heaven” at that time, he reminisces, and he instantly fell in love with the place. He started his own bodyguard business, and then his writing career, writing first for G Magazine and then for Fridae.com, a Pan-Asian gay website. Yet Collett felt that Hong Kong needed a bigger literary gay voice. He became a moderator for the HK Literary Festival for four years and then went on to run the Tongzhi Literary Group (where like-minded queer intellectuals meet to discuss fine topics such as, “is there such a thing as a gay novel?”). In 2004, he worked for a Masters of Biography at the University of Buckingham, and the result was the book “Butcher of Amritsar,” “the least gay book ever.” says Collett. His small mission now is to introduce the English-speaking gay expat community to what the gay Chinese community does. “It’s time to expose the expat community to a bigger Hong Kong, not just Lan Kwai Fong. Writing is a very good way to do that,” he says. The former Lieutenant-Colonel never dreamed that his life would turn out this way. “Tremendous fun,” he says.

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