The first Gay Games in Asia has faced a political backlash in co-host city Hong Kong after a group of conservative lawmakers called on authorities to scrap the event \u2013 and even suggested it could breach a sweeping national security law. <\/p>\n
The four-decade old event \u2013 which brings both gay and straight athletes around the world to compete in a festival of sport, art and culture \u2013 kicked off on Friday with Hong Kong and the Mexican city of\u00a0Guadalajara\u00a0as joint\u00a0hosts. <\/p>\n
But there has been vocal opposition from some within the Chinese financial hub\u2019s new \u201cpatriots only\u201d political system that was ushered in by Beijing following huge and often violent democracy protests in 2019. <\/p>\n
Eight city lawmakers on Wednesday backed a petition from conservative groups calling for the games to be scrapped, accusing the event of advocating for LGBTQ rights and spreading \u201cWestern ideology\u201d. <\/p>\n
Junius Ho, a firebrand legislator known for both his intense pro-Beijing nationalism and opposition to gay rights, said the petition \u201cobjects to any Western ideology that sugar-coated its agenda in the name of diversity and inclusivity for a sports event.\u201d <\/p>\n
He also suggested the event could breach provisions within the new national security law that ban foreign powers interfering in Hong Kong\u2019s governance. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn short, the national security act is\u00a0the legal basis,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Another pro-Beijing lawmaker Peter Shiu said the game went beyond an ordinary sports event. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is obviously just advocacy. I have no idea how it managed to reach Hong Kong,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Gay Games organizers hit back at the opposition from Hong Kong lawmakers and have vowed the event will be a proud, non-political, celebration of inclusivity. <\/p>\n
\u201cAll our books have been checked by professional accountants, open and transparent,\u201d said Lisa Lam, co-chair of Gay Games, at the Hong Kong launch on Thursday adding they had been \u201cabiding by the local laws since Day One.\u201d <\/p>\n
They also dismissed concerns that the allegations may deter participants from attending. <\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone has their own opinion about things, but we are just about sports and culture,\u201d said Alan Lang, the event\u2019s director of sports. <\/p>\n
A spokesman did not answer the first part and replied on the latter: \u201cAny activity that takes place in Hong Kong must not contravene any laws of Hong Kong.\u00a0 Law enforcement agencies will take action if there is any breach of the laws, whether it relates to general offences, crimes or acts endangering national security.\u201d <\/p>\n
The rhetoric from pro-Beijing lawmakers comes at a time when the space for China\u2019s LGBTQ community is being increasingly squeezed under Chinese leader Xi Jinping. <\/p>\n
Hong Kong does not allow same sex marriage and there is no law banning discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation. But as an international and financial gateway to China, Hong Kong has long had significant and vibrant LGBTQ community. <\/p>\n
Multiple government restrictions on same sex equality \u2013 including the ban on gay marriage \u2013 have been successfully challenged in the court, most recently in September when the city\u2019s top court ordered authorities to come up with some sort of civil partnership alternative for same sex couples. <\/p>\n
But the city has also been transformed in the wake of the 2019 protests with Beijing cracking down on pro-democoracy activists using a newly imposed national security law that has criminalized much dissent. <\/p>\n
While the law has not been used to specifically target the LGBTQ community, many of Hong Kong\u2019s prominent democracy activists were vocal supporters of greater equality and have been prosecuted under the sweeping legislation or have fled overseas. <\/p>\n
National security offences carry up to life in prison and authorities have broadened powers under the law to seize assets as well as a much higher bail threshold for those arrested. <\/p>\n
Beijing also imposed a new political system on Hong Kong whereby anyone standing for elected office or prominent government positions had to be vetted for the patriotism to China and whether they posed any national security risk. <\/p>\n
Hong Kong was initially chosen\u00a0in 2017\u00a0as the sole venue for what was supposed to be an event held in 2022. But it had to be postponed for a year because of the city\u2019s strict coronavirus controls at the time, which were in place for far longer than most places around the world. <\/p>\n
Guadalajara was then added as a joint host, a first for Latin American, but that has also carried some controversy, with participants raising safety concerns over a location where drug cartel violence is endemic. <\/p>\n
According to Reuters, no previous Gay Games has had fewer than 8,000 participants. But a week before the event, only\u00a02,458 participants had registered for Guadalajara and Hong Kong had just 2,381. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn my heart of hearts I wish the whole thing was cancelled and we could skip to Valencia in 2026,\u201d Wayne Morgan, a senior Australian athlete who has competed in six Games already, told Reuters referring to the Spanish host of the next Games. <\/p>\n
Taiwan\u2019s athletes\u00a0explicitly raised Hong Kong\u2019s national security law as a reason they don\u2019t feel safe in going to the city, fearing arrest if they were to wave a Taiwanese flag. <\/p>\n
Taiwan\u2019s Gay Sports and Movement Association said their athletes would take part in the Mexican leg instead. Taiwan has a thriving LGBTQ community and in 2019 became the first place in Asia to legalize same sex marriage. <\/p>\n
China\u2019s Communist Party claims democratic self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory, despite having never ruled it and have vowed to one day \u201creunify\u201d it, by force if necessary. Relations between Taiwan and China are at their lowest in decades. <\/p>\n
Gay Games organizers have attempted to play down those concerns, saying participants are still coming from all over the world. <\/p>\n
\u201cLike the 2,381 athletes (coming to Hong Kong), there are individuals who chose to come and they come from different nationalities, different territories and different countries as well,\u201d said Lang, the director of sports. <\/p>\n
Funding for the Gay Games has come mostly from international banks, insurance companies and law firms that have long been calling for greater inclusiveness in the city for their LGBTQ staff.\u00a0And events are being largely held in private establishments, not Hong Kong\u2019s public sporting venues. <\/p>\n
The government was represented by a single official, Regina Ip, at the opening ceremony. <\/p>\n
One of Hong Kong leader John Lee\u2019s top advisers and also a lawmaker, Ip has been one of the few Hong Kong politicians vocally supportive of the games. <\/p>\n
The event, Ip said, \u201cshowcases Hong Kong as an open, inclusive and pluralistic society.\u201d <\/p>\n
Meanwhile Chan Kwan-on, one of the Gay Games ambassadors in Hong Kong,\u00a0urged critics not to\u00a0jump to conclusions and come see for themselves. <\/p>\n
\u201cCome and join us and have a feel. We are not that evil,\u201d he said. \u201cLove and peace.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
The first Gay Games in Asia has faced a political backlash in co-host city Hong Kong after a group of conservative lawmakers called on authorities to scrap the event \u2013 and even suggested it could breach a sweeping national security law. The four-decade old event \u2013 which brings both gay and straight athletes around the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":11224,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}