Grab and Keel

The effort for human rights is universal. The desire for human dignity is universal. 

A Gay-Pride Revolution in Hong Kong

By DEENA GUZDER AND ANN BINLOT / HONG KONG

Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008

Gay-rights activists form a human chain around a rainbow flag in Hong Kong

Ted Aljibe / AFP / Getty

[There were no drag queens in sexy ensembles with heavy makeup strutting down the streets in platform heels or buff shirtless sailor boys splayed like starfish on moving floats. But Hong Kong’s first official gay-pride parade Saturday was still a colorful gathering; in fact, for a country that rarely acknowledges homosexuality, let alone celebrates it, it was downright revolutionary….]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1866308,00.html?imw=Y

As the article suggests, homosexuality was not criminalized in Hong Kong until 1901, under the British colonial rule. The country was ceded to The United Kingdom in 1842, under the Treaty of Nanking. Yet they had managed to get along 49 years in Hong Kong, “buggary” and all.

The United Kingdom itself had a time worn tradition of sexual bias laws, extending clear back to 1533 when it passed the Buggary Act. However, 1901 was part of a period of ferment around the world; homosexuality was discussed by Freud, and Ellis, Murray Hall died, raids were conducted and people as well known as Oscar Wilde, had been convicted of gross indecency with men.

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