"It is good news. After all these years, finally we see no difference between
heterosexual and homosexual's legal age of consent," a spokesman for a
homosexual rights group said in a radio program.
Paul Lui, spokesman for the Tongzhi Community Joint Meeting, a gay and lesbian
pressure group, said the group will ask the government to erase criminal
records of 63 homosexuals convicted of sodomy under 21 between 1998 and 2003.
Under Section 118 of the crimes ordinance, such men face life imprisonment.
They can also be sentenced to a two-year prison term if they commit "acts of
gross indecency." But this ordinance does not apply to heterosexuals and
lesbians who are free to have sex from the age of 16.\ The group also plans a
public campaign calling for an anti-discrimination law.
Lui said yesterday's ruling also renewed calls for equal rights for homosexual
and heterosexual marriage.
Hong Kong University law professor Eric Cheung admitted the anti-discrimination
law will become a hot issue after the case. However, same-sex marriage may
still have a long way to go because it concerns many moral judgments, he said.
Same-sex marriage is legal only in Belgium, Canada, Netherlands and Spain. A
Civil Partnership Act will come into force in 5 December 2005. The act creates
a new legal relationship of "civil partnership," which two people of the
same-sex can form by signing a registration document. It also provides same-sex
couples who form a civil partnership with parity in a wide range of legal
matters as with married heterosexual couples.
The Standard
