Gay man given harsher jail sentence because of sexuality demands Carrie Lam intervention, as activists decry Hong Kong government for ‘dragging its feet’ over LGBT rights

Man convicted of having sex with underage boys says ‘I deserve jail’, but only on same basis as equivalent heterosexual cases

Activists and academics accuse administration of failing the gay and lesbian community by delays in reforming ‘unfair’ laws

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The Post interviewed a gay man in Stanley Prison, who received a sentence harsher than the one he would have been given for committing an equivalent heterosexual offence. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 12:30pm, 22 Jul 2019Updated: 1:23pm, 22 Jul 2019

After years of campaigning by LGBT activists, a Hong Kong court in May finally abolished or revised a catalogue of sexual criminal offences that punished gay men more severely than their heterosexual counterparts.

But that landmark ruling came too late for Ah Ming, not his real name, who agreed to an interview with the Post inside a city prison, with his sentence about to end.

He was jailed for 10 years in 2014 after pleading guilty to, among other charges, having sex with two teenage boys, both 14.

His sentence was passed before the changes, when homosexual men faced up to life imprisonment for having sex with a same-sex minor aged under 16.

However, the maximum jail term for men who had sex with underage girls has been one of five years, unless the offence involved rape, or a victim under the age of 13.

Speaking from Stanley Prison as he serves out his final few months in jail, Ah Ming says he stands ready to help others struggling with their sexuality. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

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