Activists have secured a string of legal victories in Hong Kong but it is a very different story on the mainland<\/p>
After months of pandemic-related delays, Asia\u2019s first Gay Games was held in Hong Kong last week<\/a>, with nearly 2,400 athletes competing. At the opening ceremony, Regina Ip, the convenor of Hong Kong\u2019s executive council, said the competition represented the city\u2019s commitment to \u201cequal opportunity and non-discrimination\u201d, and praised Hong Kong\u2019s courts for the \u201cnumerous judgments\u201d handed down in favour of the LGBTQ+ community in the past decade.<\/p> This was met with bemusement by activists and lawyers, who pointed out that Ip\u2019s government has opposed each of those judgments, losing in nearly every single case. Since 2018, there have been at least seven cases relating to LGBTQ+ rights heard by Hong Kong\u2019s courts, with many reaching the Court of Final Appeal, the city\u2019s highest bench. \u201cWhy are they still wasting taxpayers\u2019 money fighting these tooth-and-nail litigations when they\u2019re recycling the same arguments and losing?\u201d said Mark Daly, a human rights lawyer who has worked on a number of the cases.<\/p> Continue reading...<\/a>\n