Homosexuality is legal in Hong Kong and public opinion shows increased awareness about and tolerance for LGBT people. However, there are only limited anti-discrimination laws and no legal recognition of same-sex couples.
Criminal law
The criminal laws against male homosexuality were initially a product of British colonialism, with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. During the 1970s – 1980s, there was a public debate about whether or not to reform the law in line with human rights principles. As a result, in 1991 the Legislative Council agreed to decriminalize private, adult, non-commercial and consensual homosexual relations.
However, an unequal age of consent was established, 21 for gay men and 16 for heterosexuals, with the law remaining silent about lesbianism. LGBT rights groups lobbied the legislative council to equalize the age of consent law, but were told that the legal inequality was necessary to protect youth and preserve tradition. A lawsuit was initiated to challenge the unequal age of consent in court.
In 2005, Justice Hartmann found that the unequal age of consent was unconstitutional under the Bill of Rights Ordinance, violating the right to equality. The ruling was upheld by the Hong Kong Court of Appeal Thus, since 2006, there is an equal age of consent of 16, for both heterosexual and homosexual sex.
Discrimination protections
The Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance 1991 prohibits discrimination on a variety of grounds, including "other status". In the case of Leung TC William Roy v. Secretary for Justice (2005), this has been interpreted to include sexual orientation. However, the Bill of Rights only applies to government sponsored discrimination and not the private sector. Since the 1990s LGBT rights groups have lobbied the Legislative Council to enact civil rights laws that include sexual orientation without success.
In 1993, former legislator Anna Wu proposed an Equal Opportunities Bill through a private member's bill to outlaw discrimination on a variety of grounds, including sex, disability, age, race, and sexuality. Her effort didn't yield any result until 1995 when equal opportunities law was enacted. However, sexuality was not included in the passage of the bill.
Currently, there is no law against discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation in Hong Kong.
Political opposition tends to come from social conservatives, often with evangelical Christian ties, who view homosexuality and cross-dressing as signs of immorality. For example, after the court ruled against the unequal age of consent, Hong Kong leader Donald Tsang, a devote Catholic, publicly opposed the court's decision and fought for an appeal until 2006. Otherwise most political parties and individual politicians tend to avoid making public statements in favor of LGBT rights, although this has slowly begun to change.
In 2010, Legislator Cyd Ho Sau-lan, and former legislators Dr Fernando Cheung, Reverend Fung Chi Wood and Dr Lo Wing-lok participated in public demonstration against homophobia.
Gender identity/expression
Cross-dressing per se is not illegal, although like homosexuality it remains a taboo topic. Hong Kong law allows change in legal documents such as the identity card, and passport, but does not allow the birth certificate to be changed, after a person has had a sex change operation.
Recognition of same-sex relationships
Same-sex marriage or civil unions are not currently recognised in Hong Kong.
Nonetheless, in June 2009, the Hong Kong Government recognised cohabitating same-sex couples in its Domestic Violence Ordinance.
LGBT rights movement in Hong Kong
In the early 1990s, the first two LGBT rights groups, HORIZONS and the Ten Percent Club, were established. Today, several organizations, most notably Rainbow Action and Tongzhi Culture Society exist to campaign for LGBT rights and to organize various public educational and social events.
Living conditions
Along with several gay nightclubs, LGBT pride festivals occur yearly as well as other social events including film festivals
Representations in the media
Since the 1990s, several Hong Kong films have had LGBT characters or themes in them. Television programming tended to avoid LGBT characters or themes, until recently.
In 2006, RTHK broadcasted a television film called, Gay Lovers, which received criticism from social conservatives for, "encouraging" people to become gay. In 2007, the Broadcasting Authority ruled that the RTHK-produced programme "Gay Lovers" was "unfair, partial and biased towards homosexuality, and having the effect of promoting the acceptance of homosexual marriage." On 5 May 2008 Justice Michael Hartmann overturned the ruling of the Broadcasting Authority that "Gay Lovers" discussion on same sex marriage was deemed to have breached broadcasting guidelines for not including anti-gay views.
Public opinion
Hong Kong is among the more accepting regions in Asia for LGBT people. A 2007 Gallup poll found that 56% of Hongkongers believed that the city was a "good place" for homosexuals, while 35% believed that it was "not a good place".
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