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Agatha Ngai

SCMP, June 30, 2003

By Ravina Shamdasani

A GAY RIGHTS group has rallied to a Dragonair flight attendant who was fired from his job just days after his promotion, renewing a call to make discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation illegal in Hong Kong.

The man, 26, who insists on anonymity, said that he was abruptly dismissed from his job on March 10, just days after his promotion to flight purser, or the section leader in an aircraft. He was given no reason for the termination except a verbal explanation claiming he was 'not suitable for the job'.

The man alleges that he was sacked because he is gay.

A spokeswoman for Dragonair said the airline did not discuss cases relating to individual staff.

His case has drawn renewed attention to the lack of a law protecting homosexuals from unequal treatment in Hong Kong. He subsequently filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission, but was rejected because discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is not illegal.

'The lack of legislation is really leaving the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transexual communities vulnerable to this sort of discrimination,' said gay rights activist Roddy Shaw Kwok-wah of Civil Rights for Sexual Diversities, who filed the complaint to the commission on the man's behalf.

Mr Shaw said such victims generally did not come forward with their cases because they would be even more vulnerable if they went public. Even the commission had to reject the complaint because it fell outside its legal powers.

The flight attendant joined Dragonair in May 2000 and had just been promoted to flight purser when he was fired. Many colleagues had known of his sexuality, he said.

A trainer who interviewed him for the position had remarked that she liked to employ people 'of your kind' because they tended to be good with service, but she admitted the manager did not share her views.

'When I was fired, my manager said that it was not because of my job performance, but it was just a company decision,' he said.

'I was shocked because I had just been promoted ... and just a week later, there was an advertisement in the newspaper to fill my position. I was so surprised.'

He said he had a good record with the company and no outstanding complaints.

A spokeswoman for the commission said homophobia did not fall within the existing sex discrimination ordinance which only covers biological gender rather than 'social gender'.

The man successfully filed a complaint with the Labour Department for his severance pay, but has yet to find another job, almost four months after his dismissal. 'I have applied for 30 jobs in customer service, the travel industry, hotels, catering but there are just no jobs available right now,' he said.

Discussion points

- How effective is the Hong Kong law in eliminating discrimination? Support your view with examples.

- What other kinds of discrimination have you heard of happening in the work place? How should we tackle these problems?

Email: yp@scmp.com

Vocabulary

to rally (v)

to unite in support of someone or something

When we say people 'rally around,' we mean they work together to support someone or something at a difficult time.

When the stock market 'rallies', it recovers strength after a decline in prices.

abruptly (adv)

without warning

vulnerable (adj)

exposed to attack

to go public (phrase)

to make something known to everyone rather than keeping it private.

Be careful. When we say a company goes public, we mean that it starts selling its shares on the stock exchange.

outstanding (adj)

unresolved.

We usually associate the adjective 'outstanding' with something positive. For example: he is an outstanding student; Guilin is a place of outstanding natural beauty. In these contexts, it means remarkable and impressive.

However, when 'outstanding' is used to describe a problem, it means the problem has yet to be settled.



Gay flight attendant promoted, then sacked