{"id":11267,"date":"2018-10-30T06:10:08","date_gmt":"2018-10-30T00:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pahichan.com\/?p=11267"},"modified":"2018-10-30T06:10:08","modified_gmt":"2018-10-30T00:25:08","slug":"the-hong-kong-government-claims-it-is-fair-to-the-lgbti-community-so-prove-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/the-hong-kong-government-claims-it-is-fair-to-the-lgbti-community-so-prove-it\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hong Kong government claims it is fair to the LGBTI community: so prove it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"v2-processed\">Kathmandu (Pahichan) October 30 &#8211; As such, it is particularly galling for the government to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cmab.gov.hk\/doc\/en\/documents\/policy_responsibilities\/the_rights_of_the_individuals\/human\/upr_3rd\/UPR_3rd_report_full_e.pdf\" target=\"_self\" shape=\"rect\">claim<\/a>\u00a0in the Hong Kong section of the most recent national report to the UN Human Rights Council that it \u201ccontinues to promote equal opportunities for persons with different sexual orientation and transgender persons\u201d. That is utterly misleading.<\/p>\n<p class=\"v2-processed\">But it is not too late for the government to have an epiphany and demonstrate to society and the international community that it is serious in eradicating discrimination against LGBTI people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"v2-processed\">To begin with, the government should start drafting a sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination ordinance. Education is simply not enough; we\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/comment\/insight-opinion\/article\/2146219\/hong-kongs-lgbti-community-needs-legal-protection\" target=\"_self\" shape=\"rect\">need a law<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 as an expressed voice of society \u2013 that discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity and intersex status will not be tolerated.<\/p>\n<p class=\"v2-processed image no-float\"><span class=\"image-caption-container image-caption-container-none\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"caption lazyload-processed magic-processed loaded\" title=\"LGBT activists celebrate after the Supreme Court of India ruled that gay sex was no longer a criminal offence, repealing a colonial-era law, in Mumbai on September 6. Photo: EPA-EFE\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn2.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/methode\/2018\/10\/26\/b0dcbf16-d8f7-11e8-a41d-3d2712b32637_1320x770_173408.jpg\" data-resolution=\"2\" data-original=\"https:\/\/cdn2.i-scmp.com\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/methode\/2018\/10\/26\/b0dcbf16-d8f7-11e8-a41d-3d2712b32637_1320x770_173408.jpg\" data-ignore=\"true\" \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"v2-processed\">In jurisdictions where\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/hong-kong\/community\/article\/2153635\/support-same-sex-marriage-hong-kong-grows-new-study-shows\" target=\"_self\" shape=\"rect\">same-sex relationships<\/a>\u00a0are recognised, the sky hasn\u2019t fallen, and the institution of marriage remains strong. Same-sex relationships are as loving, caring and serious as straight relationships, and they deserve legal recognition in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<p class=\"v2-processed\">We need a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/hong-kong\/community\/article\/2126652\/let-transgender-people-have-status-recognised-without\" target=\"_self\" shape=\"rect\">self-declaration gender recognition scheme<\/a>\u00a0to address the needs of transgender persons. The current system that requires\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/hong-kong\/law-crime\/article\/2127690\/legitimate-make-transgender-people-get-full-sex\" target=\"_self\" shape=\"rect\">mandatory sex-reassignment surgery<\/a>\u00a0is inhumane and amounts to torture. We should respect their bodily autonomy, and let them decide the best course of action for themselves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"v2-processed\">As far as intersex persons are concerned, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/lifestyle\/article\/1905393\/no-child-should-endure-my-ordeal-says-sex-disorder-hongkonger-forced-be\" target=\"_self\" shape=\"rect\">current practice<\/a>\u00a0of asking parents to decide the gender for their intersex children (with the implication of subjecting these children to invasive surgeries) is outrageous. It causes unnecessary mental stress and physical harm to the children and their families.<\/p>\n<p class=\"v2-processed\">We call upon the government to respect the bodily integrity of these children and let them make an informed decision about their gender and what, if any, surgeries they wish to undergo once they have reached the age of majority.<\/p>\n<p class=\"v2-processed\">Through the Hong Kong Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Coalition, we have made specific recommendations on LGBTI rights. Is the government listening?<\/p>\n<p>Source :\u00a0scmp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kathmandu (Pahichan) October 30 &#8211; As such, it is particularly galling for the government to\u00a0claim\u00a0in the Hong Kong section of the most recent national report to the UN Human Rights Council that it \u201ccontinues to promote equal opportunities for persons with different sexual orientation and transgender persons\u201d. That is utterly misleading.<br \/>\nBut it is not too late for the government to have an epiphany and demonstrate to society and the international community that it is serious in eradicating discrimination against LGBTI people.<br \/>\nTo begin with, the government should start drafting a sexual &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":11268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,621,490,11],"tags":[502,845,1887],"class_list":["post-11267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-issue","category-news","category-slider","category-world","tag-lgbti","tag-universal-periodic-review","tag-upr"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11267"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11269,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11267\/revisions\/11269"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11268"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pahichan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}