Uproar over ad with gay couple shows HK lags in LGBT rights

Two barefoot men dressed conservatively in dark suits stroll hand-in-hand on a beach, in a print advertisement that’s part of a new Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. campaign. The tag line for the ad featuring the same-sex couple reads: “Move Beyond Labels.’’

That seemingly tame request set off a controversy in Hong Kong, where the city’s subway and airport operators initially declined to run the ad, according to a May 20 report in the South China Morning Post. With critics vowing social media action to shame subway operator MTR Corp., the government-backed company and the airport authority both released statements distancing themselves from the decision.

Hong Kong’s Airport Authority said in a statement the ad was “not in infringement of the AA’s established guidelines on advertisements.” MTR said in a separate statement that it rejects gender or sexual orientation discrimination. And the ad agency, JCDecaux, said “the design can be posted at MTR stations.’’

The initial decision to censor the ad is the latest example of the gap between Hong Kong and many other places when it comes to LGBT rights. While the former British colony debates whether it’s appropriate to show two men holding hands, Taiwan on May 17 became the first place in Asia to legalize marriage equality.

Same-sex marriage is also legal in New York, London, Sydney and other cities that, like Hong Kong, are international financial hubs.

MORE ACCEPTANCE

Still, there are some signs of growing acceptance of same-sex relationships in Hong Kong. Ocean Park, a theme park that is the biggest local competitor to Hong Kong Disneyland, in March published an ad showing two men in boxer shorts and sleeveless white undershirts embracing, with one closing his eyes as the other kisses his neck.

The ad was an homage to the 1997 film “Happy Together,’’ a same-sex romance starring Leslie Cheung, a gay man who was one of the city’s biggest stars before his death in 2003.

Activists have launched multiple legal challenges to promote civil rights in the Chinese special administrative region, where there is more recognition of the importance of LGBT rights than in other parts of China. The campaign is building on last year’s landmark case in which a Hong Kong court ruled foreign spouses of gay expatriate workers were entitled to the same residential visas as foreigners in heterosexual marriages.

“We were very encouraged” by the case, said Gigi Chao, vice chairman of Hong Kong-based property developer Cheuk Nang Holdings. Chao, a lesbian, is a board member of advocacy group BigLove Alliance, which launched the social-media campaign against MTR.

“The fight for equality will be spearheaded by what happens in the courtroom,’’ she said.

LEGAL CHALLENGES

Among the plaintiffs pushing for more rights is a civil servant in the Immigration Department who has sued the government for refusing to give spousal benefits to his husband after the two wed in New Zealand, where same-sex marriage is legal.

There are also two new challenges to the ban on same- sex marriage, according to Lisa Wong, a partner at Hong Kong- based law firm Boase Cohen & Collins. In one case, a University of Hong Kong student referred to as TF and a 31-year-old activist known as STK are arguing the government’s refusal to recognize same-sex marriage violates the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.

In another case a woman referred to as MK is calling on the government to allow her to enter into a civil partnership with her same-sex partner.

“Attitudes are changing and as the LGBTQ+ rights movement gains momentum worldwide, so the Hong Kong government is facing increasingly frequent legal challenges to its policies,’’ Wong wrote in an article published on her law firm’s website last month. Bruce Einhorn & Natalie Lung, Bloomberg