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Government to take active approach to fight discrimination

The Government will initiate legislation to ban discrimination on the ground of family status and adopt practical measures to address discrimination in the area of sexual orientation, the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Michael Suen, said today (Wednesday).

The way forward was devised on the basis of public views contained in more than 8,800 and 10,000 submissions received in response to the consultation documents on family status and sexual orientation respectively.

At a press conference to announce the findings of a two-month public consultation conducted earlier this year, Mr Suen said the submissions showed a clear public demand for legislation to protect the rights of persons of different family status and a majority preference for administrative measures to tackle discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation.

Mr Suen paid tribute to the many organisations and individuals who have aired their views.

"The enthusiastic response clearly reflects a deep concern of the community about the issues," he said.

He said most respondents felt that discrimination on the ground of family status was common in employment, education and provision of services, and was particularly affecting women who assume the responsibility of carers in the family.

Mr Suen said preparation for legislation to eliminate discrimination on the ground of family status would start immediately.

It could either be in the form of a self-contained bill, or alternatively, the Sex Discrimination Ordinance (SDO) could be extended to cover family status as an area of discrimination under the ordinance.

"The extension should be simple and straightforward as the SDO already prohibits discrimination on the ground of marital status, which is a form of family status," he said.