More than 200 gays, lesbians and their supporters marched to the SAR government headquarters yesterday to protest against the lack of laws to ensure equal rights.Members of 20 groups, two political parties and seven religious organizations joined in to mark the city's fifth annual International Day Against Homophobia.
Chanting "love is not a crime, hate is not a family value," they called for equal rights to social services and fair treatment at work and in schools.
According to Amnesty International coordinator Medeleine Mok, the groups have been angered by Democratic Party's Wong Sing-chi and independent lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun's opposition to discussions over the inclusion of sexual minorities in the Domestic Violence Ordinance.
The groups also hit out at Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung for his refusal to meet with them to discuss amending the draft of the ordinance.
"I worked for an employer without complaint for nine years. One day he found out I was a lesbian, and all of a sudden I wasn't fit to help the family because I would set a bad example for their children," 52-year-old Sha Tin domestic helper Marrz Balaoro said.
More than two dozen demonstrators later staged their fourth "die-in" outside the Legislative Council to condemn Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam- kuen's "indifference" to their plight.
Mok also criticized Citybus for refusing to rent a bus for the city's first large-scale gay pride parade late las
t year, and City University which censored health-related information on sexual minorities last month.Raymond Wong Yuk-man of the League of Social Democrats pledged to continue pushing the issue in Legco, adding his party is the only one to include equal rights for sexual minorities in its manifesto.
Fellow LSD lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung added: "People are born free and sexuality should also be free."
