Hong Kong has a statutory body that exists to promote equal opportunities and aims to eliminate discrimination: the Equal Opportunities Commission. But as he took up his position last year, the EOC’s new commissioner Ricky Chu made some alarming statements which negate its very purpose. Citing a “logic based on realistic outcomes,” he indicated that working towards the legalisation of same-sex marriages in Hong Kong would be to “waste resources.”

He further indicated that this was a “really controversial issue at the moment” and that “if we keep on thinking about the controversial issues, then the heated debate and polarisation of the society will stop us from effectively carrying on with our work.”

This is not just a portent for inaction. This came across as a purposeful deference to discrimination under the guise of prioritising resources, and staving off controversy. In not so many words, it is a chilling declaration of feigning a harmonious society by refusing to address significant minority issues. Read more via HKFP