Backing sexual minority rights does not affect support for Hong Kong candidates, survey finds
Survey by Gender Research Centre finds 76 per cent of general public respondents view such candidates positively or their stance does not bother them
Supporting sexual minority rights would boost the public image of politicians, while opposing these rights would hamper how the public views them, a survey by a local university has found.
The research team also distributed online questionnaires on the same topic to 997 people who see themselves as non-heterosexual.
The survey found that taking a pro-gay-rights stance would not lead to a significant loss of public support as 76 per cent of the general public surveyed said they would either view such candidates positively or that their stance did not bother them.
Close to 93 per cent of the sexual minority respondents also said they would support a pro-gay-rights politician.
By contrast, politicians who oppose gay rights would lose significant support among sexual minorities as well as the general public.