A HONG Kong-based non-governmental organization will launch China's first financial awards for research on homosexuality next year as part of its efforts to eliminate discrimination against gay people.

The Chi Heng Foundation said yesterday in Shanghai that the awards will be given for outstanding research papers on any worthy topic related to homosexuality, such as gay lifestyles, support networks, AIDS prevention and the legal environment.

Anyone who conducts evidence-based research is eligible to submit the findings for award consideration. China's young university students are expected to be the biggest contributor group.

Foundation officials said the number of awards, each ranging between 1,000 yuan (US$126) and 2,000 yuan, will depend on the number of applicants each year.

Chi Heng supports public education designed to half discrimination against homosexuals and provides help to AIDS orphans in Henan Province.

Organization founder To Chung said the group's goal is to encourage more researchers to study homosexuality.

"Homosexuals have moved into the spotlight in recent years with the society's growing tolerance. But the number of experts who conduct research on the subject is very limited," To said.

China is estimated to be home to 20 million to 30 million gay people. But there are no more than 30 researchers who specialize in the subject across China, according to the foundation.

A court of Appeal has deemed the higher age of sexual consent for homosexuals in Hong Kong unconstitutional and discriminatory.

Hong Kong law states that homosexuals must be 21 before consenting to sex, whilst the age for heterosexuals is five years lower at 16.

Gay men who risk having sex before 21 face potential life imprisonment.

The three judges at the Court of Appeal unanimously agreed that laws allowing a higher age of consent for homosexuals than for heterosexuals and lesbians were discriminatory and unconstitutional. Chief High Court Judge Geoffrey Ma said "I fail to see on any basis the justification of this age limit," reports Agence France Presse (AFP).

Wednesday's ruling does not erase the law — the legislature would need to remove it from the statutes first — but it does make it technically unenforceable, Mr. Vidler said.

Connie Lam, a spokeswoman at the Security Bureau, said the Department of Justice was carefully studying the judgment. She declined to say whether the government would further appeal the case.

Hong Kong- The Hong Kong government has backed down in a legal battle to keep a law that makes gay sex under the age of 21 punishable by life imprisonment, a news report said Monday. The government has decided not to appeal against a landmark ruling which said the law banning gay sex for anyone under the age of 21 was unconstitutional, the South China Morning Post reported.

...the government has decided not to lodge a further appeal, a move which will make its law against gay sex legally invalid, the newspaper reported.

Mainland China has approved its first gay and lesbian organisation, according to reports.

Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou has backed a group called Happy Together, which arranges lectures, excursions and events of interest to the gay community.

Its membership includes professors, teachers and students, China Daily reports.

THE registration of a homosexual student group at one of the country's prestigious universities has been hailed as a "landmark event" by a sexologist and denounced by some parents.

The Rainbow Group will study homosexuality and oppose sexual discrimination, according to Ai Xiaoming, the group's tutor, who is also a professor.

The group obtained permission from Zhongshan University in Guangdong Province and became the first of its kind in the country.

Controversial sexologist Li Yinhe hailed it as "a landmark event" and "historical progress" on her blog.

Ai said the time is right for such clubs. "It's wonderful to see the Rainbow Group set up because it shows that a state university in China has given way to students with different sexual orientation and is willing to hear their voice."

However, some parents are worried. They consider homosexuality a disgrace to their family. According to Li, one boy's mother attempted suicide when she discovered her 24-year-old son was gay.

Xue Yong, the parent of a university student, is against the Rainbow Group and worries other universities will follow with similar clubs.
...
Most big universities across the country have gay and lesbian forums on their Websites.

ong Kong's top court rejected a ban Tuesday on public gay sodomy, another victory for the Chinese territory's gay rights movement.

The case stemmed from the prosecution of two men who acknowledged committing sodomy in a car parked on an isolated road at night, the ruling said. Public gay sex was a crime with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

After the two men challenged the charges, lower courts ruled in their favor, but the government appealed to Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal. A panel of five top judges unanimously dismissed the government's appeal.

Chief Justice Andrew Li said in the ruling that the law targets homosexuals and “does not criminalize heterosexuals for the same or comparable conduct.”

The case was the first prosecution of the 1991 law.

New rules are being drafted in Shanghai urging landlords not to rent rooms to same-sex partners, according to Reuters.

The city’s housing bureau has issued a report advocating conservative restrictions on who should and should not be allowed to rent rooms.

In addition to same-sex couples, unmarried couples were also included in the ambiguous report which does not make clear whether the new rules would merely become guidelines or be enforced by law.