1 Feb 2016

Hong Kong govt must act on anti-discrimination laws now, according to study

Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) reports that public opinion has turned in favour of legislation to support sexual minorities

Hong Kong's chairperson of the EOC, York Chow Yat-ngok has put the government under pressure to act on implementing legislation to protect LGBT from discrimination.

The EOC has released a survey of 1000 people in which  55.7 percent agreed with enacting legislation that protected LGBT from discrimination. This is half the 28.7 percent who agreed in 2005.

91.8 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 deemed legislation as necessary. Nearly half of religious Hong Kongers also supported a law to protect sexual minorities.

The study also reveals discrimination experienced by LGBT in the city in the areas of employment, education, provision of services, disposal and management of premises, as well as government functions.

The findings are at odds with a government-appointed advisory body's own report on the same topic which was released late last month.

This report came to the conclusion that there was no evidence of strong support and that further study was needed.

Three of the 14-member group demanded their names be removed from the group’s report and LGBT groups denounced the conclusion.