Almost 2,400 players competed in Asia’s first Gay Games last week in Hong Kong after weeks of delays brought on by pandemics. Regina Ip, the executive committee chairman for Hong Kong, spoke at the opening ceremony and praised the state’s courts for the “numerous judgments” rendered in favor of the LGBTQ+ area over the previous ten years, stating that the competition exemplified its commitment to “equal opportunity and non-discrimination.”
Campaigners and attorneys laughed at this and noted that Ip’s authorities had opposed each of those decisions, losing almost every single one. At least seven cases involving LGBTQ+ rights have been heard by Hong Kong’s judges since 2018, and many of them have made it to the highest court in the city, the Court of Final Appeal. ” Why are they also wasting taxpayer funds on these pointless legal battles when they’re using the same justifications and losing?” Human rights attorney Mark Daly, who has worked on a number of the circumstances, said.
In every case that reached the top prosecutor, Ip told the Observer,” the government had complied with the Court of Final Appeal’s verdicts.”
Following a series of constitutional victories for the LGBTQ+ group, which stands in stark contrast to land China’s growing hostility toward gay and trans people, the Gay Games were held.
The top court in Hong Kong ruled in February that it was unlawful to require trans people to have sex reassignment surgery in order to change their legitimate gender, which is also required by law in mainland China. The court then decided in September that the government had to create an “alternative model” for the constitutional recognition of same-sex organizations while refraining from approving gay marriage.
Henry Li, a 37-year-old lawyer, has been involved in several recent cases. Li and his late father, Edgar Ng, realized they would not be able to lawfully cohabitate in the government-subsidized apartment they had purchased because Li was unable to register as” spouse” or “family part,” which led to Li’s reluctant activism in 2019. Despite getting married in the UK in 2017, Ng and Li’s coalition was never recognized in Hong Kong.
According to Li, who credits Ng with starting the judicial evaluation to “protect” him, the legitimate action was” never truly to fight for equality, it was a fight to stay up freely in our own home.” Although the housing authority is appealing, the Court of Appeal ruled in Li’s favor next month.
Ng also filed a lawsuit to desire that same-sex people be treated equally in terms of inheritance rights. The Court of Appeal upheld Ng’s favor next month after a lower bench decision. However, Ng committed suicide in 2020, and his possessions are still frozen as the state is anticipated to file an appeal.
After the graveyard forbade Li from identifying Ng’s figure, his death sparked additional legal disputes. It was humiliating, violent, and cruel. When I was informed that Edgar was n’t my husband, his body was actually in the room next door, Li recalled.
After the state clarified that same-sex lovers should be treated similarly by the sheriff’s office, he filed a criminal assessment but dropped it in October 2021.
In line with Beijing, the government opposes granting equitable right to LGBTQ+ people, but in Hong Kong, this opposition is becoming more and more polarizing. According to a survey conducted in May, 60 % of respondents now support same-sex marriage, up from 38 % ten years ago. More than 70 % of respondents agreed that Hong Kong should have a law prohibiting sexual orientation-based discrimination.
LGBTQ+ people have fought with the law in places other than the judges. We Are Family, the single LGBTQ+-related radio program in Hong Kong that had been broadcast for 17 years, was put on hold in July by the city’s public presenter. Although there was no formal explanation for the show’s cancellation, anything that might be seen as important of the Chinese government has become vulnerable since Beijing passed a contentious national security law in 2020 to put an end to months of pro-democracy demonstrations. Despite plans for a pop-up Pride show, the monthly Pride march was canceled in 2020 due to Covid- 19 limitations.
According to Evelyn Tsao, a human rights attorney who focuses on LGBTQ+ problems, “more and more” nonprofit organizations are “restricting the reach of their campaigning work to do just public knowledge, and we see less and less of the LGBT rights groups speaking out against public policy or engaging in any social lobbying.”
Daly observed that while the political climate has n’t had a direct impact on civil rights litigation, anyone who challenges the government in court is “probably feeling” a little bit more chilled.”
Some members of the pro-democracy station object to the notion that gay rights can be distinguished from the larger assault on rights in Hong Kong. A group of activists demanded the cancellation of the Gay Games in June and charged that the Games ‘ organizers were “figures responsible for common persecution against the people of Hong Kong.” Junius Ho, a fiery pro-Beijing senator, has explicitly stated that the game may violate the national safety rules on the other end of the political spectrum.
The event was not “aligned with any political ideologies or figures,” according to David Ko, the games ‘ communications director.” Our primary goal is to create a system where people from all walks of life can come together to celebrate variety, equality, and the human nature.”
However, the game have had trouble avoiding politics. Due to concerns about sports ‘ protection in the context of the national security law, Taiwan, the only country in Asia to legalize gay marriage, did not send a delegation to the occasion in Hong Kong.
