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Hong Kong equality watchdog vows to speed up protections for gays
Hong Kong’s equality watchdog vowed Monday (20 July) to speed up protections for LGBTI people after it was powerless to investigate two women who verbally abused the city’s only openly gay lawmaker on the subway.
Speaking to a legislative panel, York Chow, chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), said legal protections for LGBTI people were his second priority behind reviewing the city’s anti-discrimination law.
Last month, Ray Chan posted a 2-minute video on YouTube of two women mocking his sexuality and calling him ‘shemale.’
‘What can the public do when they experience a similar situation?’ he asked.
‘I feel sorry that there is not any law to protect against this kind of affair at this moment. We don’t have any statutory protection,’ Chow replied.
‘When possible, I will bring this to society for discussion but we do not have any statutory power to handle such cases, so I hope discussions in society will let more people understand the problems facing sexual minorities.’
He added that an EOC-commissioned feasibility study on legislation against LGBTI discrimination would be presented to the government toward the end of the year for ‘appropriate legislative steps.’
However, after the US Supreme Court legalized in gay marriage nationwide in June, Chow said the EOC had no power or mandate to power or mandate to propose such a law in Hong Kong and he was ‘not quite optimistic’ it would be legalized in his lifetime.
The post Hong Kong equality watchdog vows to speed up protections for gays appeared first on Gay Star News.
Darren Wee
www.gaystarnews.com/article/hong-kong-equality-watchdog-vows-to-speed-up-protections-for-gays/
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