HK Gay man wins HC case on HK ban on under21gaysex

Posted by: hcpen1111

HK Gay man wins High Court case repealing HK ban on under21 gay sex
This high profile case concerned a Hong Kong gay man who applied to the High Court requesting that the Hong Kong law banning sex between gay men under 21 be repealed on the grounds that it constituted discrimination against gay men and also infringed upon Human rights law and Basic law of HK that all citizens, incl gay men, were equal before the law. In HK, consenting sex between gay men is legal since 1991 but only for 21yrs and above whereas heterosexual sex (man and woman) and sex between lesbians is legal for under 21yrs old. Thus it meant that previously, only gay men were banned from having sex if they were under 21 whilst heterosexuals and lesbians could have sex even under 21. The HK High Court ruled in favour of the gay man who applied and repealed the old HK law on the grounds of discrimination especially given lesbians were not subjected to the same ban. Now, therefore, gay men in HK under 21 can also legally engage in consensual sexual intercourse. What surprised me and i'm sure many HK ppl must have been how 'normal' the gay man who sued looked. Asian society still has a stereotype that gay men look either (a)effeminate/sissy (b) thin and pale or some ppl would think if gay men did not come under the first 2 categories then they must come under either (c)fashionable looks conscious (d) wears tight clothing and works out often....but the gay man who won, as can be seen from the photo above, was in none of the categories most ppl would have of gay men and no one would probably even suspect he was gay if they knew him and he did not tell them. Further, he had a respectable occupation as a volunteer with the famous NGO Doctors without Borders Medical San Frontiers which operates in poor countries giving medical treatment to ppl.The gay community really needs public figures like him to provide a positive role model for gays and lesbians and more importantly to dispel myths about how gay men are like amongst society at large as putting a sissy like gay man as a public figure for gay rights will not attract much support from society given it reinforces negative perceptions about gay men but putting a very 'normal looking' good looking guy with a respectable occupation is bound to jolt people and gain more sympathy and understanding for gay men...