The Hong Kong government on Thursday conceded that seven local laws targeting sexual activities involving gay men were inconsistent with the city’s mini-constitution which provides that all residents are equal before the law.

The seven offences came under scrutiny following a judicial review mounted by Yeung Chu-wing, a volunteer from local sexual minorities rights group, Rainbow Action, who is demanding that the High Court declare them unconstitutional.

But while the government conceded the offences were inconsistent with the Basic Law and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, it did not want all seven of them to be declared unconstitutional.

Instead, the government has asked the court to exercise its power of remedial interpretation by reading the offences in a way that would bring them in line with the Basic Law, so that they would be preserved before new laws are made.

Yeung’s counsel Hectar Pun Hei SC said: “We recognise the sincerity of the secretary for justice to save the law in the interest of the public.”

But Raymond Leung SC, representing the secretary for justice, observed that there remains “an uphill task, notwithstanding the concessions” made by the government. Read more via South China Morning Post