Hong Kong’s LGBT community has urged the government to follow Taiwan’s lead as the self-ruled island became the first in Asia to make same-sex marriage legal, but the call was dismissed by the new head of the city’s equality watchdog.

Equal Opportunities Commission chairman Ricky Chu Man-kin expressed preference for a step-by-step approach, starting with anti-discrimination initiatives.

On Friday Taiwan’s legislature voted to legalise same-sex marriage in a landmark decision, following a 2017 constitutional court ruling that the marriage laws then were unconstitutional and that same-sex couples had a right to enjoy a legal union.

LGBT groups in Hong Kong reacted with joy and excitement to the developments in the neighbouring jurisdiction, which came as the local community held its annual flagship event “An evening of solidarity” at Chater Garden in Central, to mark the International Day against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. Read more via South China Morning Post