Nine LGBT rights groups in Hong Kong have jointly criticized a government advisory body, which was formed to address questions of LGBT discrimination, for failing to recommend that LGBT discrimination be officially banned.
On December 31, after over two years of work, the Advisory Group on Eliminating Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities released a report detailing their recommendations. While the report listed five measures that should be taken to combat discrimination, it did not recommend any official legal steps. Raymond Chan Chi-chuen told the South China Morning Post that 80% of group members supported recommending legal steps, but that the Group’s chairperson refused to do so. Chan and two other board members have subsequently asked that their names be removed from the report.
Reggie Ho, from the advocacy group Pink Alliance, told SCMP that “without action, this report is useless.” In addition to the lack of legislation recommendations, the five measures proposed “lacked implementation details and a timetable – big handicaps,” according to Ho. The Equal Opportunities Commission, which has commissioned its own study on the topic, declined to comment on the board’s findings.