Gay rights
activists in Hong Kong said Tuesday they were staging
demonstrations and a hunger strike to protest a government
decision to let a conservative Christian group educate
schoolteachers on human rights issues. "Choosing a
group that is not only antigay but clearly
anti-human rights, over experienced academics, to
teach human rights is simply a joke," said gay rights
activist Roddy Shaw.
The Society of Truth and Light, a Christian
group that has on several occasions spoken out against
gay rights, was commissioned by the Education and
Manpower Bureau to educate teachers in primary and
secondary schools on human rights concepts. The group has
led petitions against possible legislation outlawing
discrimination against sexual minorities. It has
described gays as "unhealthy and dangerous to society"
in newspaper advertisements.
The one-year course's contents include
international human rights conventions and the general
background of human rights in Hong Kong, bureau
spokeswoman Jeanne Tam said.
Ben Olmsted, a California activist, called the
government decision "disgusting" and protested by
staging a hunger strike outside the government
headquarters. "I plan to do a minimum of 48 hours and a
maximum of 72 hours," he said. "I'm well aware of the
preachings of the Society for Truth and Light, and I
think they are extremely offensive. They are
ultraconservative and not representative of Hong Kong
people at all."
Education bureau spokeswoman Tam said it was the
first time a nontertiary academic group was chosen to
provide the human rights training to teachers. She
added, however, that the selection was conducted fairly and openly.
Choi Chi-sum of the Society of Truth and Light
said in response to the attacks that gay activists are
"too domineering." "They are taking their 'rights' too
far, and any individuals who hold different views from
them are persecuted. To equate gay rights and human rights
is just wrong," Choi said. (AP)