http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1819386/lets-keep-vulgar-comments-gay-hong-kong-lawmaker-perspective
SCMP News
Let's keep vulgar comments on gay Hong Kong lawmaker in perspective
PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 10 June, 2015, 2:52am
UPDATED : Wednesday, 10 June, 2015, 12:40pm
Michael Chugani
Let's keep vulgar comments on lawmaker in perspective
Public Eye will neither condone nor condemn the vulgar taunting of gay legislator Raymond Chan Chi-chuen by two middle-aged women on an MTR train. Only bigots would condone such tasteless mocking of someone for being gay. But appalling as their behaviour was, the two women have a right to free speech. Unless Hong Kong outlaws non-violent hate talk - and Public Eye is averse to criminalising it - the pair have as much right to mock the supposedly small size of Chan's penis as others have to use racial slurs against minorities and call mainlanders locusts. We wonder if the two women would have bothered to taunt Chan had he not made taunting a trademark of his behaviour in the Legislative Council. Mocking Leung Chun-ying as "689" for the number of votes he got in the chief executive election is Chan's mantra, as is hurling missiles and verbal abuse at officials. Could the two have been paying back in kind, that their jibes were aimed at Chan the politician rather than Chan the gay man? Chan wants tougher laws against discrimination. Good, but we would like to remind him that landlords refusing to rent to minorities is as vulgar as someone mocking him for being gay. If he is to fight against bigotry, we urge him not to make it a self-interested battle.
Taunting of Raymond Chan takes us to a new low
Public Eye watched dumbstruck the YouTube video of the two women deriding Raymond Chan as a "d**k-less" man and a gay with a penis measuring just three inches. Well-dressed, middle-aged tai-tais aren't supposed to talk like that, especially on an MTR train. What have our politics done to us? If bisexual pop idol Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing were alive today and the pair saw him on an MTR train, they would have pleaded for selfies with him rather than mock his sexuality. The foul-mouthed abuse of Chan has taken us all to a new low. We don't even want to guess what's next.
Parents of mainland children are fair game
We are all expected to condemn radical groups that target mainland parents and their Hong Kong-born children who compete for school places here. That's the politically correct thing to do. But we'll say something politically incorrect. Yes, leave the children alone but their parents are fair game. They're scamming the system at the expense of Hong Kong taxpayers. They came here as tourists to give birth so their babies would qualify for residency and all the benefits that come with it, including free education. They live on the mainland, pay no Hong Kong taxes and their children are not Hongkongers in the real sense because they just cross the border daily to attend school here. If they eventually choose to settle here, they can apply for their parents to join them. It's all legal but that doesn't mean it's right. We don't condone but can understand why radical groups resort to thuggish actions to make their voices heard against this absurdity. If it's politically incorrect to say that, so be it.
Michael Chugani is a columnist and television show host. mickchug@gmail.com
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