Who'd have thought it? The Court of Final Appeal in Hong King has ruled that the clause in a 1991 ordinance (i.e. a law) which distinguishes between public (as defined) sex acts between two people of the same gender and similar acts by people of different genders is discriminatory. Chief Justice Andrew Li is quoted as saying in the ruling that the law targets homosexuals and "does not criminalize heterosexuals for the same or comparable conduct."
The case arose when two men, who were engaging in sex in a parked car, were charged under the law and they contested the law and lower courts ruled in their favour; the government appealed to the 'supreme court' to have the ruling reversed. The government, according to the Director of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, Law Yuk-kai, 'could not prove the reason for singling out gays in the ordinance, while the Basic Law guaranteed that everyone shall be equal before the law'.
A homophobic law has been thwarted. This is good news.
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