HIGHLY SKILLED FILIPINO GAY MEN IN BANGKOK, THAILAND: A QUEER INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION STUDY

Abstract

While a number of migration and intercultural communication studies concentrate on the economic, political, social issues, and cultural differences faced by cisgender immigrants both in their home and host countries, studies that attempt to explore, understand, and connect culture and sexuality within the Global South-South context remain limited. This study aimed to understand the labor migration among seven highly skilled Filipinos and their communicative practices of belonging and integration experiences as gay men in Bangkok, Thailand. Using the theoretical frame of queer intercultural communication and employing an online semi-structured individual interview as a method, this study revealed that on the macro level, social institutions, primarily the church and the family, as well as companies of employment, also hindered participants from expressing themselves. On the meso level, participants formed their professional identity by integrating and adapting to the new cultural environment, which enabled them to see themselves as free, empowered, and emancipated. Furthermore, on the micro level, participants formed their personal identity by not only adapting, assimilating, and integrating themselves into their host country but also by engaging, building a relationship, and integrating themselves into Bangkok's subcultural community-gay community. Such a subcultural community allowed them to explore their sexuality and identity. This study highlights that looking at the issues of identity and belonging from gay men's perspectives enhances our understanding of the multiple gender identities that contribute to the study of queer intercultural communication and migration.