Hong Kong's young crusader.In a society that doesn't talk about any sexuality, Billy Leung, 21, has brought up the topic of gay sex. "I was never an activist," he says, sitting in his attorney's downtown Hong Kong Hong Kong (hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. office on a recent October afternoon. "I'm just a normal guy who wants my rights." While still just 20, Leung mounted a legal challenge against Hong Kong's antisodomy law, which puts the age of consent for anal sex Noun 1. anal sex - intercourse via the anus, committed by a man with a man or woman anal intercourse, buggery, sodomy sexual perversion, perversion - an aberrant sexual practice; at 21--five years higher than for vaginal vag·i·nal adj. 1. Of or relating to the vagina. 2. Relating to or resembling a sheath. vaginal pertaining to the vagina, the tunica vaginalis testis, or to any sheath. sex. Gay youth convicted under the law can face life in prison. With the help of human rights lawyer Michael Vidler, Leung got a lower court to strike down the law in August. In the decision, Justice Hon Hartmann found the law a "discriminatory provision which infringes the guarantee of equality" for "a historically stereotyped group--gay men." The Hong Kong government has appealed on the grounds that the law applies equally to males and females and is therefore not discriminatory. But Hong Kong University law professor Robyn Emerton disputes that. She says, "A law which apparently applies equally to everyone can still be discriminatery, if it has a disproportionately adverse impact on a particular class of people." Leung currently works with Doctors Without Borders Doctors Without Borders, Fr. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), international organization that provides emergency medical assistance to people suffering from a natural or societal disaster, such as an earthquake or war. and plans to study psychology in college. He's become a kind of poster boy for a gay rights movement that just seven years ago was virtually nonexistent non·ex·is·tence n. 1. The condition of not existing. 2. Something that does not exist. non , and he hopes his battle will demonstrate the power of one voice to break the silence that breeds discrimination. Leung has also raised his voice against the Hong Kong government's recent hiring of an antigay Christian group called the Society for Truth and Light to teach human rights to schoolteachers. "I don't see the Buddhists out protesting," says Leung, noting that Christians represent only 10% or less of the Hong Kong population. A highly organized minority of Christians, he adds, pressured the government to appeal the sodomy sodomy Noncoital carnal copulation. Sodomy is a crime in some jurisdictions. Some sodomy laws, particularly in Middle Eastern countries and those jurisdictions observing Shari'ah law, provide penalties as severe as life imprisonment for homosexual intercourse, even if the ruling. Although the sodomy law A sodomy law is a law that defines certain sexual acts as sex crimes. The precise sexual acts meant by the term sodomy are rarely spelled out in the law, but is typically understood by courts to include any sexual act which does not lead to procreation. no longer applies to him, Leung vows to continue his crusade. "This case is about the human rights of all people in Hong Kong," he says. "It's about being able to live equally under the law." |
|
||||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion