More than 80 per cent of these respondents said they had experienced assaults such as verbal harassment, while over 60 per cent said people had scoffed at them.

The study found that half were discriminated against in the workplace, half said they were discriminated against by public policies relating to areas such as marriage and social welfare, and 45 per cent said they were harassed at schools.

Nearly 30 per cent said their sexual orientation caused them to be treated unfairly when applying for membership of public bodies. Some 20 per cent said they did not receive proper services from the government or private companies.

CRSD chairman Roddy Shaw Kwok-wah said the number of cases of discrimination against homosexuals was high, given that the questionnaire was posted on the internet for only two months.

One of the 31 respondents contacted for follow-up interviews told Mr Shaw he was 'a very qualified NET [native English teacher] teacher at a band one college but was forced to quit his job when the school discovered his sexual orientation'. Mr Shaw said the teacher's homosexuality was disclosed after 'someone' obtained the expatriate's details from a gay website and sent them to the principal.

'The school told the teacher that 'we cannot accept homosexuals and we cannot accept paedophilic affection either' and asked him to choose between quitting or being fired,' Mr Shaw said.

'Homosexuals are not paedophilic and the teacher received an outstanding appraisal before,' he said. 'It's an employment discrimination case but the teacher is not protected by law, which is unfair to him.'

Fan Lap-hin, project secretary at the HKCI, said the government should address the problem of discrimination against homosexuals in Hong Kong. He urged legislators to introduce a white paper and to start as quickly as possible public consulations on legislation banning discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation. More resources and education on the issue were also needed, he said.