香港政府、ソドミー法違憲判決を不服として控訴

HK govt challenges ruling on under 21 gay sex
Fri Sep 30, 7:13 AM ET Reuters

The Hong Kong government on Friday appealed a court ruling last month that a law which prohibits sex between consenting males below 21 was a violation of human rights.

A spokesman for the territory's judiciary said no date had been fixed yet.

Michael Vidler, the lawyer for a 20-year-old homosexual who challenged that law in court, said he was surprised the government was challenging the ruling.

"My client will continue to fight for his rights and the rights of all Hong Kong people," he said. "If the government maintains that this is a world city, then they must start acting like one."

While lesbians and heterosexuals in Hong Kong are free to have sex from the age of 16, intercourse between consenting males is illegal before they are 21 under the city's existing criminal code. Those found guilty can be jailed for life.

But a high court ruled that the criminal code discriminated against homosexual males and was inconsistent with Hong Kong's post-1997 constitution, which guarantees wide-ranging freedoms and rights.

Hong Kong reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997 under Beijing's policy of "one country, two systems." In China, homosexuality is still considered taboo.

In his August verdict, Justice Michael Hartmann said the ordinance was a grave and arbitrary interference with the rights of gay men to self autonomy in the most intimate aspects of their private lives.

He did not suggest a new legal age of consent.