Same-sex Marriage Too Hard To Achieve Now: EOC

The new head of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) on Monday ruled out advocating for the legalisation of same-sex marriage during his three-year term, saying it would be ‘empty talk’ to push for an impossible goal.

Ricky Chu said he reached the conclusion since taking up the post last month and listening to different views on sexual orientation discrimination.

He told RTHK’s Candice Wong that it's better to deal with less controversial aspects of discrimination over sexual orientation, such as issues relating to employment, education and the usage of public facilities, rather than taking on the ‘endless’ debate over same-sex marriage.

“Once we step into this most controversial arena, then the debate will be polarised and endless, and the net result will be that we will be staying in where we are as we did in the last ten twenty years,” he said.

“There would not be any progress at this stage. If we cannot handle or we cannot resolve basic issues like those I’ve mentioned, then it would only be empty talk for us to give a vision that cannot be possibly achieved at this moment,” he added.

He said the EOC will dig into raw material it gathered in the past few years, including research, reports and studies, and try to come up with recommendations for the government in terms of legislation on anti-discrimination.