this might be one of the most important paparazzi photos in queer Asian history. leslie cheung and daffy tong had already spent years together when a photographer caught them holding hands in public. the striking part isn’t even the hand-holding it’s daffy looking back at the cameras while leslie simply keeps holding on. at a time when being openly queer in hong kong came with a very different kind of pressure, that tiny gesture carried enormous weight. leslie had already spoken publicly about tong, but the photograph gave people something they could see rather than something they could speculate about. and that’s why this picture survived. not because it was scandalous. because for once, the camera accidentally captured a man refusing to let go of another man’s hand.