A hubbub broke out recently between RTHK and the Broadcasting Authority in Hong Kong. The Broadcasting Authority’s labeled of an RTHK television programme on gay marriage as unsuitable for family viewing hours on Jan 20^th. This TV rule caused hot and open debates over the issue of homosexuality in this city.

Many homosexual groups and civil rights activist groups, such as Rainbow Station and In-media are condemning the action of broadcasting and they consider that this rule “had hindered civic education in Hong Kong.” The Rainbow Station, a website for lesbians, even started a protested action over internet called “one person one protest” in order to fight against the discrimination over homosexuality from government. Lots of local commentators and writers also react to the news. Large numbers of articles and voices on the topic of homosexuality are published during last mouth.

For me, it’s an interesting and considerable phenomenon which tells us the changes of the attitude towards homosexual issue in Hong Kong. From 1991, male homosexual behavior was legal in Hong Kong. Since then, the debates over the same-sex marriage have never stopped. But homosexual supporters’ actions upgrade and become more public step by step in recent years. For example, in 2003, the Catholic Church of Hong Kong released an article condemning homosexual marriage. As a result, a group of protesters rushed into a church and interrupted the service. Those actions (including the latest protested issue) demonstrated that during the past ten years more and more gays and lesbians in Hong Kong are “coming out” gradually. Meanwhile, more and more supporters of homosexuality make voices today in Hong Kong.

But although they made great progress during the past several years, the homosexuals and their supporters in Hong Kong still have thousands of obstacles in front of them. So I am curious about firstly whether the changes of this issue are related to the handover of Hong Kong, so after 1997, HK residents including the homosexuals are aware to fight against for their own civil rights; or secondly, the handover actually plays a negative role in the development of those social actions. Because, in fact the same-sex marriage has become legal in the UK since 2005 and there are 13 countries and regions in the world admitted the same sex marriage.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 8th, 2007 at 11:46 am and is filed under WEEK ONE. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.