Respecting Privacy and Affirming Equality: The Dual Significance of Leung v Secretary For Justice for Hong Kong's Gay Community

On 24 August 2005, Justice Hartmann handed down a landmark judgment in Leung v Secretary for Justice, the first 'gay rights' case to come before the Hong Kong courts. In a judicial review application, the High Court declared that four provisions in the Crimes Ordinance relating to sexual activities between men were unconstitutional and therefore invalid, on the basis that they arbitrarily interfered with the private lives of gay men, and discriminated against them on the ground of their sexual orientation. The Government has appealed the decision regarding section 11 8C (only), which prohibits 'buggery' between men where one party is under the age of 21. This article calls for the Court of Appeal to uphold Justice Hartmann's ruling, arguing that it should comfortably withstand the Government's grounds of appeal, and highlighting further potential precedents and arguments in support. It also responds to an article in Volume 35, Part 3 of this journal, in which Robert Danay argued that the offence of buggery should have been analysed on privacy grounds alone, and that the use of the equality analysis had resulted in the judicial promotion of a negative, ‘hypersexualised homosexual stereotype’. This article contends that upholding the dual aspects of the judgment is important for continuing Hong Kong's progressive jurisprudence in the fields of equality and human rights, and also has positive significance for Hong Kong's gay community, by both respecting the privacy and affirming the equality of gay men in Hong Kong society.published_or_final_versio

Neither Here Nor There: The Current Status of Transsexual and Other Transgender Persons Under Hong Kong Law

This is the first of two articles on the law relating to transgender persons in Hong Kong. This article examines the current administrative and legal status of Hong Kong's transgender persons. It argues that, whilst various policies and practices adopted by the authorities undoubtedly facilitate the every day lives of certain transgender persons, the legal situation (which perpetually condemns them to their biological sex as designated at birth) is inhumane and should no longer be tolerated. The second article, Robyn Emerton, 'Time for Change: A Call for the Legal Recognition of Transsexual and Other Transgender Persons in Hong Kong', also intended for publication in the Hong Kong Law Journal, will consider how the current position could be challenged by way of judicial review under the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance, or, ideally, changed through legislative reform.published_or_final_versio

Time For Change: A Call For The Legal Recognition of Transsexual and Other Transgender Persons in Hong Kong

This is the second of two articles the author the law relating persons in Hong Kong. The first article, which appeared Volume 34(2) (2004) of this journal, examined in detail the current administrative and legal status of Hong Kong's transgender persons. This article considers how the present, unsatisfactory situation could be challenged through the courts or changed legislative reform. First, the article examines the potential of judicial review proceedings under the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance and the Basic Law against the Hong Kong authorities’ refusal to allow transgender persons to marry in their chosen gender or to amend their birth certificates. This section draws heavily on international and comparative case law, and in particular the landmark decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Goodwin v United Kingdom and I v United Kingdom (2002) .Concluding that there is a strong case to be argued under the right to marry, but that litigation is unlikely provide a comprehensive solution to the problems faced by Hong Kong's transgender persons, the article then calls for full legal recognition to be granted to them through legislative means, and considers which of several models (focusing on Singapore, Japan and the United Kingdom) might suitable for Hong Kong.published_or_final_versio

Marital Rape and Related Sexual Offences: A Review of the Proposed Amendments to Part XII of the Crimes Ordinance

A recent bill in Hong Kong proposes a number of amendments to the offence of rape and other related sexual offences as they apply to married persons. Part A of this article discusses the proposed amendments to the offence of rape and examines the case law under the analogous English legislation, with a particular focus on the House of Lords' decision of R v R [19921 1 AC 599 and its relevance to Hong Kong law. Part B considers the effect of the proposed amendments on a number of related sexual offences, in particular the effect of the new definition of 'unlawful sexual intercourse'. It is argued that, whilst the amendments to rape and several other key offences are to be warmly welcomed, this new definition is likely to cause confusion and may also reduce the protection currently afforded to certain categories of women against sexual offences committed by their husbands, thus necessitating further review and reform.published_or_final_versio

Hearing Status and Cultural Identity: Sources of Diversity

Produced by Center on Disabilities, University of Hawai'i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai'i, Frank Sawyer School of Management, Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts and The School of Social Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, Texas for The Society for Disability Studies

Condition matters: pupil voices on the design and condition of secondary schools

This research was produced by Sheffield Hallam University. The project aimed to inform the creation of a national schools Facilities Management network and an ongoing programme to research and benchmark the impact of school condition and design on pupils

The Impact of Changing Technology on the Employment of a Group of Older Deaf Workers

Non

Breakdown of scale-invariance in the coarsening of phase-separating binary fluids

We present evidence, based on lattice Boltzmann simulations, to show that the coarsening of the domains in phase separating binary fluids is not a scale-invariant process. Moreover we emphasise that the pathway by which phase separation occurs depends strongly on the relation between diffusive and hydrodynamic time scales.Comment: 4 pages, Latex, 4 eps Figures included. (higher quality Figures can be obtained from [email protected]

Three dimensional hysdrodynamic lattice-gas simulations of binary immiscible and ternary amphiphilic flow through porous media

We report the results of a study of multiphase flow in porous media. A Darcy's law for steady multiphase flow was investigated for both binary and ternary amphiphilic flow. Linear flux-forcing relationships satisfying Onsager reciprocity were shown to be a good approximation of the simulation data. The dependence of the relative permeability coefficients on water saturation was investigated and showed good qualitative agreement with experimental data. Non-steady state invasion flows were investigated, with particular interest in the asymptotic residual oil saturation. The addition of surfactant to the invasive fluid was shown to significantly reduce the residual oil saturation.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.