7. Homosexuality is not generally regarded by the medical profession as an illness or a disease). There is certainly no ready 'cure' for homosexu and most homosexuals do not seek a 'cure'. They do not consider the sexual preference to be deviant or perverted even though at times it can give rise to feelings of guilt and shame.
The law in Hong Kong
8.
A homosexual act between men is in all circumstances a criminal offence under provisions proscribing gross indecency or buggery (anal intercourse). Gross indecency is not defined by statute. It covers any act involving gross sexual indecency between two men(2). The maximum penalty for an act of gross indecency between men is imprisonment for two years; for an act of buggery the maximum sentence is life imprisonment. It is immaterial to the offence that the act takes place voluntarily between two adults in private. If discovered they would both be liable to prosecution and imprisonment.
International comparisons
9.
Hong Kong's present laws reflect British social and legal tradition before 1967, the year homosexual acts in private between consenting adult men ceased to be criminal in England and Wales. The law in Scotland and Northern Ireland was similarly changed in 1980 and 1982, respectively. In most western European countries the laws do not proscribe homosexual behaviour. Homosexual be- haviour is also legal in Canada and in about half of the states of the United States of America.
10. In the East, homosexual acts are criminal in India, Malaysia and Singapore. Such acts are not criminal in Japan, the Philippines, South Korea, New Zealand and in most states of Australia. In the People's Republic of China, homosexual acts are not included in the criminal code, nor were they offences under the criminal code of 1930.
(1) The LRC Report, para 3.26.
(2) According to evidence before the Wolfenden Committee, the offence usually takes one of three forms: mutual masturbation, some form of contact between the legs, or oral-genital contact. The Committee, chaired by Sir John Wolfenden, CBE, was appointed in the United Kingdom in 1954 to consider the law on homosexual offences and prostitution. Its report was presented
to Parliament in 1957.
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