Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam’s Facebook Live event fails to impress LGBT groups after questions ‘snubbed’

Chief executive takes about 30 questions during 48-minute event and addresses range of issues – but more than 470 messages from LGBT groups go unanswered

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Carrie Lam (left) took questions through two hosts. Photo: Handout

Published: 8:45pm, 18 Aug 2018Updated: 12:59am, 19 Aug 2018

Hong Kong LGBT groups have accused the city’s leader of snubbing them during a Facebook Live question-and-answer session on Friday night.

Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, the first Hong Kong leader to use the platform, took about 30 questions during the 48-minute event, and addressed a range of issues.

But on Saturday, LGBT concern groups issued a joint statement expressing their disappointment at not catching her attention during the event. The groups posted more than 470 messages – making LGBT issues among the most popular topics of the about 10,000 comments – but all went unanswered.

The LGBT groups said their messages were just as significant as those of others. Photo: AFP

The Post, checking comments on the Facebook Live page, found housing was the hottest topic, with 786 messages on the issue.

Some 572 messages were related to the one-way permit scheme, which allows up to 150 mainland Chinese each day to move to the city for families to be reunited, while 459 posts contained the keywords “Greater Bay Area”, the national development scheme integrating Hong Kong, Macau and nine other cities in Guangdong province as a powerhouse to rival Silicon Valley.

While some messages sarcastically asked when Lam would move to the Greater Bay Area, others urged mainlanders to reunite with their families there instead of moving to Hong Kong.