W
hen it comes to LGBT rights and awareness,
it’s fair to say that for a multicultural,
international city, Hong Kong’s progress
in this area lags far behind many of its
Asian and Western counterparts. Despite decriminalizing
homosexuality in 1991, Hong Kong has yet to introduce
sexual orientation into its anti-discrimination laws. It’s
clear that Hong Kong’s timeline for LGBT rights has some
catching up to do. Compare Hong Kong to the Republic
of Ireland for example: a country with a predominately
Catholic population became the first country in Europe to
legalize gay marriage through popular vote in 2015, despite
only decriminalizing homosexuality in 1993, two years after
Hong Kong.
The local school system, too, has some catching up to
do. Having taught in local schools for four years, I’ve seen
nothing to dispute the belief of many that the triple-C effect
is to blame: Christian + conservative + Chinese traditions
= intolerance. In my time as a teacher in Hong Kong, I’ve
never met an openly gay student or work colleague, have
not come across LGBT issues in the curriculum and have
not encountered LGBT clubs, talks or events of the sort
embraced by some international schools.
So, when a class of 14-year-old students presented me
with the script for
Nurture and Love
, a drama describing
the heart-warming and ultimately tragic love story of
Anthony and Sammy, two gay teenagers battling against
Star-crossed
lovers
46
Raimondi College students take
LGBT Rights Centre Stage, writes
Fionnuala Lenaghan.
