Joint Statement of teachers and grad students at HKU Faculty of Education against the EMB to award human rights training contract to the STL

I want to put the following up for a long time, if my leg doesn't go anything wrong for the last two weeks.

I find this press release very touching. For those of you who didn't follow up the news, the Education and Manpower Bureau had awarded a human right training for teachters contract to the Society of Truth and Light (well, except for God, who else in the universe could claim him/herself represent the truth?), who in fact opposes almost everything that protects the equal opportunities for anyone (in the name of God!).

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Press Release (6 October 2005)

As educationalists we have deep misgivings about EMB's award of a contract to the Society of Truth and Light (STL) to run courses for teachers on human rights.

STL's views on human rights are highly eccentric. Hong Kong's gays,lesbians and transgendered people meet discrimination in all walks of life(personal and professional). Yet for STL the proposed anti-discriminationlaw would itself infringe human rights. In what way? Well, by forcing people to change their attitudes to these minority groups (and, one supposes, actually to stop treating them the way they do).

We believe STL's view of human rights legislation is dangerous. We are alarmed that this view may be communicated to teachers, in whom we place the education of tomorrow's citizens. Today STL fights to preserve theright to discriminate against gays, lesbians and transgenders. Tomorrow who knows? Maybe it will be a fight to remove existing protection for women and the disabled. For don't we all have the right to discriminateagainst whomsoever we choose?

16 teachers and postgraduate students at HKU Faculty of Education