Gay rights campaigners give up on forum flop

Gay rights activists are boycotting a government initiative that they say has done nothing to help their cause since it was launched more than eight years ago and is merely being used as a delaying tactic.

The Sexual Minorities Forum - which was set up by the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau in September 2004 specifically to advance gay rights - has only met 11 times. The last time was more than two years ago and no new meetings have been arranged.

The bureau has also opened the forum to groups like the New Creation Association, which believes homosexuals can change their sexual orientation through counselling. Their inclusion had cost the forum its credibility, said lawyer Michael Vidler, legal adviser to Pink Alliance, a network of groups championing rights for sexual minorities.

More than 20 groups are boycotting the forum, including the International Social Service, Queer Sisters and Transgender Equality and Acceptance Movement. They claim it has been hijacked as a delaying tactic for any meaningful debate.

"As it stands, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex organisations are saying enough is enough," said Vidler.

The mass rejection comes despite momentum that built up late last year for consultation to introduce laws banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, prompted by former Equal Opportunities Commission chairman Lam Woon-Kwong.