Carrie Lam has enough on her plate, spare her the same-sex marriage rows

I refer to the letter from Peter Lok, “When it comes to same-sex marriage, equality does not have to mean the same rights” (December 10). Why is same-sex marriage a “no-go” area in Hong Kong? There has been much discussion recently regarding same-sex marriage, whether it should be legalised and whether LGBT couples should have equal rights to heterosexual couples.

I am afraid that if same-sex marriage is legalised in Hong Kong, it will not go down well, as this is still very much an Asian society, where most of us are educated since we are young that traditionally marriage is a union between a man and a woman, to the exclusion of all else. The idea of same-sex marriage would certainly not be well-received by most of our parents, who are still very conservative by nature.

I was in the United Kingdom for the decade of 1999 to 2009, and had often seen parents going on to talk show programmes to disown their children when they learned that they were homosexual, as they just could not accept the idea and could not face their other family members.

In fact, most of us are born heterosexual; and only when we go to school, especially in Western countries, are we educated about homosexuality and transsexuality. Fine, it is not a problem if a child has two loving and caring mums or dads, but many parents fear that the idea of families outside the “one mother and one father” ideal creates confusion and instability in the lives of young people.

In my view, even if children are adopted, they still deserve a mother and father. Otherwise, we are just depriving them of their basic rights.

Our chief executive is already facing tough challenges during her current term, and we certainly do not need to add this topic to her headaches.

Eunice Li, Shanghai