Opinion | EOC chief has failed in his duty to champion gay rights
Albert Cheng sees a clear conflict of interest, given the Exco convenor's reluctance to criticise the chief executive on anti-discrimination law
The recent public conduct of Equal Opportunities Commission chairman and Executive Council convenor Lam Woon-kwong reminds me of the bat in Aesop's fable, The Bat, The Birds and The Beasts.
In the story, when there was a great battle between the birds and the beasts, the bat fought on the side it believed would win. When the birds had the upper hand, the bat declared it was a bird. But when the beasts had the advantage, the bat switched sides and declared itself a beast. Lam has, of late, been rather like the bat.
As a staunch supporter of gay rights, Lam has long called for equal rights for homosexuals. He has been urging the government to launch a public consultation on the implementation of anti-discrimination laws.
In a recent radio interview, he expressed disappointment about the government's decision not to launch such a consultation, which he said would have been a reasonable first step.
But, he added, since the chief executive thought there was no urgency for the matter, we had to accept this political reality. And, no matter how disappointed he was, he said there wasn't much he could do.
He said the commission would continue to speak for people with different sexual orientations and called on the community not to give up on the fight to protect gay rights. So far, Lam has merely paid lip service to the cause.