Schools refuse to allow gay group to talk to students

NO secondary school in Hong Kong is willing to let a homosexual group talk to its students.

Chairman of gay group Hong Kong Ten Per Cent Club, Felix Wong Yuen-fung, said it wrote to all 199 government and subsidised secondary schools on Hong Kong Island and in Kowloon two months ago, offering to talk to teachers and students on homosexuality.

The group has also requested their publications be put in libraries.

But so far, only three schools have replied and all were negative.

One Catholic teacher said it could not allow the club to promote this kind of 'deviant behaviour'.

'Our school absolutely cannot accept this kind of indulgent homosexual behaviour,' it said.

Mr Wong said the club was disappointed. It wanted to get in touch with secondary school children because they often got a wrong and biased picture of homosexuality.

'Many teenagers are interested in what being gay is but what they know is gathered only from movies or the media,' he said.

Mr Wong believed most school principals and teachers knew little about homosexuality.

'Ignorance and discrimination often go hand in hand,' he said.

A school principal and executive committee member of the Hong Kong Association of Heads of Secondary Schools, Ella To Kwong Wai-yin, said her school did not want the group 'to promote homosexuality and say this is good' in front of its students.

'We don't want our students to pay particular attention to this group of people,' said Mrs To.

She said the school had at least 10 programmes a year on sex education in which homosexuality and AIDS were mentioned.

She said the school also knew little about Ten Percent Club. Groups which the school invited in the past were all 'well established and respectable' ones.

Asked if she believed her students had enough knowledge on homosexuality, she said: 'It is difficult to say what is enough. We have a tight schedule and it is a matter of priority.' Mr Wong said the club was undaunted by the poor response and would make follow up phone calls to all those who had not replied.

The club would also write to secondary schools in the New Territories.

The chairman of the Movement Against Discrimination, Mak Hoi-wah, said schools should not avoid the topic or discriminate against gays.

'Most adopt a protective attitude towards their students,' he said.

He believed sex education taught in secondary schools only touched on homosexuality, and it was vital to have a correct picture.

Meanwhile, the Health Department and three local gay groups are planning the first survey in the territory on the sexual practice of gays in Hong Kong.

Michael Lai Chung-keung, chairman-designate of the club, said the poll, which would be conducted in the form of a questionnaire, aimed to get a more accurate picture of the gay community.

Topics would include sexual practice, number of sexual partners and knowledge of AIDS.