The sky darkened for human rights activists when the Broadcasting Authority ruled in January that an RTHK television programme on gay lovers was 'unfair, partial and biased towards homosexuality'. The ruling was considered to be the authority's most high-profile blow to the freedom of expression of sexual minorities since the handover.
But six months since the ruling, thousands of people have flocked to the RTHK website to view Hong Kong Connection - Gay Lovers, turning it into one of the station's highest-rated shows. 'My classmate's father watched the programme. He told his daughter he could not find anything in it that was so controversial as to warrant a censure,' Joseph Cho Man-kit said.
Mr Cho, 26, was interviewed on the programme about the discrimination he faced as a gay man in the city. He said he felt humiliated by the authority's ruling because the show was an authentic documentary about his life. It was not meant to influence people's sexuality or promote gay marriage, he added.
He thinks most people share the opinion of his classmate's father. In a Legislative Council meeting in March, lawmakers unanimously passed a motion demanding the authority withdraw its ruling. The censure was an infringement of editorial independence and the rights of sexual minorities, they said.
In the past decade, the public has warmed to the idea that people should be treated equally regardless of their sexual orientation. But opponents, who say homosexuality is immoral and sinful, are getting more organised and influential. Some church-based groups like the Society for Truth and Light are spearheading the anti-gay campaign.
But minorities find the government increasingly reluctant to stand up for them, even at the risk of censure by international bodies such as the United Nations. 'There are definitely more channels for us to express our views compared to 10 years back,' Mr Cho said. 'But every time we voiced our views - even when it was just a trivial comment - groups like the Society for Truth and Light would mobilise all their resources to attack us. The government just kept quiet.'
For years, sexual minorities have pushed for policy reform in three areas: equalising the age-of-consent laws governing same-sex and opposite-sex sexual relations; establishing an ordinance to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation; and establishing means to recognise same-sex partnerships.