Denise Ho is an award-winning Hong Kong-based artist and activist. With 12 studio albums and many film credits, Ho is a household name in the Hong Kong entertainment industry. In 2012, she became the first openly lesbian singer in Hong Kong. She is also a leading figure in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, becoming a vocal supporter of the anti-extradition bill protests against the extradition of fugitives to mainland China. She has urged the international community to help protect Hong Kong’s freedom through an address to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and her testimony at a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C. She has appeared in various outlets, including CNN, Fox News, and the Wall Street Journal, and was selected as one of the BBC’s 100 Women of 2016. Her participation in the 2014 Umbrella Movement led to her arrest and blacklisting by the Chinese regime. In December 2021, Hong Kong police arrested her for a second time on sedition allegations.
