Fridae

The Women's Coalition of Hong Kong (WCHK) - a group for bisexual, lesbian and transgendered women - has received an anonymous letter along with items such as "paper money" used in Chinese rituals as offerings to the dead and strands of what seems like pubic hair last Tuesday. The letter, which was written in Chinese, referred to lesbians as being "stinking homosexuals" (同性戀臭貨) and the group as being a "meeting place for damn gay women" (死gay婆集中地).

The two-page letter also referred to lesbians as having "non-gender-specific looks" (非男非女怪相) and warned that "Anita Mui - a highly regarded deceased singer and actress who had notably played androgynous roles in several movies - would visit tonight" (梅豔芳今晚擺訪你,拜訪你).

The packaged delivered to the group's post office box also contained some "paper money" typically burnt in Chinese rituals as offerings to the dead, strands of what seems like pubic hair, clippings of advertisements selling sex and pornographic services, and a small amount of ashes or dust.

The two-year-old WCHK told Fridae that they had periodically found messages of an abusive and sexual nature posted to their official website, and received persuasive but non- threatening letters from anti-gay individuals and religious groups.

According to a press release issued by WCHK, three representatives of the group made a report at the Wanchai Police Station on Thursday.

The release issued in Chinese also quoted the police officer on duty as saying that the case will be treated as one of "nuisance and mischief" as the letter did not contain specific text that suggests threat to human live (such as "I want to kill your club members"), and the words had not cause the recipient any harm despite causing discomfort and fear.

The police suggested that WCHK contact the police to inform them of upcoming public activities so that they can assign officers to provide protection and to boost the patrolling in the vicinity of the events.

The statement read: "As public discourse over the SOD (Sexual Orientation Discrimination) Bill legislation grew in the middle of this year, we have observed occasional postings containing abusive language aimed at lesbians that were posted on our website. However this is the first instance of a letter of threat. It is an important sign of rising homophobia and an alert for our community."

In light of the incident, the WCHK urges the Home Affairs Bureau to boost its public education efforts to help the public understand gay men and women, and other sexual minorities. WCHK also urges the HK government to adhere to the obligations of international treaties and enact legislation to remove discrimination based on sexual orientation, in order to create an equal and diverse society.

In its statement, the group highlighted that anti-gay religious groups like The Society of Truth and Light, and The Hong Kong Sex Culture Society have been aggressively propagating messages which incite hatred towards homosexuals. Several groups have also taken up advertisements in local newspaper denouncing any support for anti-discrimination legislation based on sexual orientation.

The WCHK further cited the brutal murders of an American college student, Matthew Shepard in October 1998, and transgender Brandon Teena in 1993, both of which are remembered as hate crimes motivated by anti-LGBT bias. The group warned that should such offenders be allowed to continue spreading hatred without restraint, Hong Kong would degenerate into a homophobic and intolerant society.

The group will be sending the Police a written request for their official response on the case before deciding on the course of action, Connie Chan of WCHK told Fridae in an email interview.