| Subject: 維護家庭聯盟扭曲南華早報立場 |
Author:
XOX
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 16:58:26 03/01/05 Tue
In reply to:
Ignatius
's message, "維護家庭聯盟等不滿南華早報扭曲教會立場" on 12:52:56 02/28/05 Mon
I have responded to the bigots ridiculous accusation but got deleted by the bigot at Christian Times.
See for yourself.
Justice for all
It was supposed to be a quick poll. Six months after mooting the survey to gauge public attitudes towards homosexuals and the likely reception to an ordinance protecting sexual minorities from discrimination, career civil servant Stephen Fisher, deputy secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, was shaking his head, stunned at the pressure his office had come under.
We thought we'd just draft a questionnaire and then do it, he said. In this particular case, it's not that simple. The very idea of conducting a survey is controversial. No sooner had the Home Affairs Department indicated the government's intention to revisit the court of public opinion, which indicated in 1995 that Hong Kong was not ready to address the issue of homosexuality, than the battles lines were drawn.
Mr Fisher has since last July met with groups representing, and sympathetic to, Hong Kong's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. He has heard from Amnesty International, the Human Rights Council, the Equal Opportunities Commission, and gay and lesbian activists.
He has also listened to those opposed to homosexuals, the so-called family values groups led by the Society for Truth and Light.
There is division, to put it mildly, Mr Fisher said. So entrenched are the positions that he doesn't dare put the two sides in the same room.
About 2,000 people in Hong Kong, selected at random by the government's contract market research agency, MVA Hong Kong, will be asked what they think about homosexuals.
Mr Fisher said the survey would attempt to assess community awareness of gays, lesbians and bisexuals, its attitudes towards them and the level of acceptance in different contexts and situations, such as having a homosexual relative, friend, colleague or teacher.
It would also attempt to measure attitudes to the rights of gays, lesbians and bisexuals, such as access to spousal rights and public housing, as well as the age of consent, which is 21 for homosexuals and 18 for heterosexuals.
After criticism that the 1995 survey was leading and biased, the poll questions will be carefully vetted by a panel of three prominent Hong Kong figures approached by the government for their reputations of fairness and objectivity. These people are well-known and influential in society and have not expressed a view on the issue, Mr Fisher told the Legislative Council earlier this month.
He said the names would be withheld for the time being to lessen the intense pressure the three were expected to come under as they prepared the questions. Results of the survey would then be tabulated and analysed, a process that would take about two months, with the findings to be released in the latter part of this year.
On the basis of those findings, the government will decide whether Hong Kong is ready to move forward. Gay activists said the government was moving much too slowly, with another year gone before the question of legislation would even be considered.
Legislator Emily Lau Wai-hing told Mr Fisher during a recent Home Affairs Panel meeting of the Legislative Council: We don't object to the survey, but we want the legislation ... I think you are just dragging your feet.
He responded: There must be public support ... and Legco support. We do not have that yet.
Mr Fisher has stepped away from an earlier suggestion that only a result of more than 50 per cent support would he take the process to public consultation and a Sexual Orientation Discrimination Ordinance.
If most [respondents] have an open mind, or no view, then they [the public] may be ready for this, he said. If there is no major opposition, then we can move forward. Mr Fisher said the issue was not just about enacting a law to protect a group from discrimination - it was about what people believed homosexuality to be.
Recourse to a survey had already drawn sharp criticism. Legislator Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung said the government's approach is dangerous ... whether we protect basic human rights should not be based on public opinion.
And the Hong Kong branch of human rights watchdog Amnesty International said: The need to legislate to protect freedom from discrimination should not be determined by public opinion surveys.
Every individual is entitled to freedom from discrimination as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. We strongly urge the government to legislate to fulfil its responsibilities to protect the rights of all citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation and irrespective of public opinion.
The level of discrimination against homosexuals is hard to measure, but activist group Civil Rights for Sexual Diversities has been gathering data, and it said there were more than 50 cases of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation in Hong Kong last year.
The courts may decide Hong Kong's future direction on the issue, with a High Court ruling expected by the end of the year on recognition of the Canadian marriage of Roddy Shaw Kwok-wah and Nelson Ng Chin-pang, and a challenge under way to age-of-consent laws involving charges brought against two men, one of them aged 20.
Both cases could ultimately force a major rewriting of Hong Kong's legislation.
On a wider front, the Immigration Department is being confronted with an increasing number of married expatriate same-sex couples seeking dependant spouse visas. The department does not comment on specific cases, nor does it go beyond stating each application will be considered on its merits. The experience of the mainstream churches, the Anglican Church in particular, suggests no easy way out for the government.
Religious conservatives insist the Bible makes clear that homosexuality is a sin, although it seems to carry more currency than adultery. Progressives maintain that the dogma against homosexuals set down 1,500 years ago has no place in society today - nor does slavery and the subjugation of women, both of which are condoned by the Bible.
Reverend Ralph Lee Ting-sun, head of the Methodist Church in Hong Kong, said he feared a growing division with no possibility of compromise. Mr Lee said the survey would likely show Hong Kong has yet to make up its mind about homosexuality. There could be more tolerance, but I don't think we will see acceptance, he said.
By making it a black-and-white issue, there is the risk of driving the undecided and still silent majority towards the conservative camp.
Anglicans in Hong Kong, who watched their church move to the brink of schism over the ordination of a gay bishop in the US, alienating the diocese in Africa and Southeast Asia, had so far stood aside from the debate, opting for discussion within individual congregations, said Chancellor Andrew Chan.
The Catholic Church in Hong Kong appears to be straddling the issue. On the one hand is the church's Justice and Peace Commission saying the issue is one of human rights, and on the other stands the Marriage Advisory Council which fears an assault on the traditional family and an undermining of the sanctity of marriage.
Reverend Fai Luk, of the Church of Christ in China, while doctrinally opposed to homosexuality, said there was a spirit of tolerance, although he conceded it was up to each of its 62 churches to decide. None of the mainstream churches, representing most of Hong Kong's Christian community, oppose the idea of a Sexual Orientation Discrimination Ordinance.
There is an ethical, moral dimension to this, said Mr Fisher. Some people do not believe they are discriminating. Not only do they see nothing wrong with what they believe, they feel very strongly they are doing the right thing.
We need to engage society in a discussion of what are our values? We are not talking about black and white here. We are talking about an area where different people have different views.
Mr Fisher said the objective of the survey had become a question of whether the community as a whole should move forward. That's for the survey to determine and public consultation to consider, he said.
In preparation for what will likely be a heated debate, the Home Affairs Department has secured funding from April 1 for a two-person unit, modelled on the race Relations Unit and tentatively called the Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation Unit.
Copyright (c) 2005. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.
//If there are nasty and mean bigots so-called-Christians in Church who treated people badly based on their distorted personal belief, then it is a sad day for Christ Church indeed.//
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 
