Support for gay rights has grown in the country with the latest polls suggesting half the population now backs gay marriage.
A series of archaic laws criminalising certain gay sex acts were struck down as unconstitutional by a Hong Kong judge on Thursday because they only targeted men and were discriminatory.
A government commission is currently in the process of reviewing the laws but a volunteer from a local gay rights group brought a legal challenge to the High Court. “These provisions are inconsistent with the right to equality… and discriminatory in nature. They are unconstitutional and should be struck down,” he wrote in his judgement.
One of the laws, for example, meant gay men faced a much more severe maximum sentence of life imprisonment for buggery with a boy under the age of 16, while men who committed unlawful intercourse with a girl under 16 faced a maximum five years in jail. “This legal challenge should not have been necessary,” said Michael Vidler, whose firm represented the man bringing the challenge.
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