Hong Kong public’s attitudes toward sexual orientation anti-discrimination and same-sex marriage legislation

Abstract

This study seeks to understand the differences in public support for LGBT rights and the underlying factors, which include the impact of media exposure. A telephone survey was conducted with 1,008 Chinese adults randomly sampled from the general population in Hong Kong from June 2016 to October 2016 to examine public attitudes toward homosexuality, sexual orientation anti-discrimination legislation, and same-sex marriage legalization. The findings indicate significant discrepancies in public support for anti-discrimination legislation and same-sex marriage. Younger, more educated, non-Christian HongKongers with a Western worldview and gay friends were more gay-friendly and supportive of anti-discrimination legislation. These characteristics, however, do not affect support for same-sex marriage. Rather, HongKongers with a traditional Chinese worldview and frequent exposure to local traditional media were more likely to oppose same-sex marriage even though they may not oppose anti-discrimination legislation.