Gigi Chao (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

: 趙式芝; born 1979) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

activist and the vice-chair of Cheuk Nang (Holdings) Ltd. Chao holds a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture with Honors from the University of Manchester's

Manchester School of Architecture The Manchester School of Architecture (MSA) is a School of Architecture, jointly administered by The University of Manchester and the Manchester Metropolitan University in the city of Manchester, England. The School was formed in 1996 with the ...

. Chao, a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, is an outspoken advocate for

LGBT rights in Hong Kong Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) persons in Hong Kong (a special administrative region of China), may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. History After the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality in the Uni ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. In 2012, Chao gained international attention when her father,

Cecil Chao Cecil Chao Sze-Tsung (; born 1936) is a Hong Kong billionaire who is the owner of Cheuk Nang (Holdings) Ltd. Chao is the last surviving of the four sons of Wuxi-born shipping tycoon Chao Tsong-yea and his wife Chao Nyi Ya-tsung. His elder broth ...

, offered $65 million to any man who could marry her. Despite criticism, her father remained unrepentant. In 2014 Cecil Chao increased the reward to $180 million. Gigi responded publicly in an open letter printed in the

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

. The letter expresses defiance of her father's wishes and asks for respect for the

LGBT community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay men, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a comm ...

. In 2019, Chao founded the organization Hong Kong Marriage Equality to advocate for the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Hong Kong. Chao wrote an early thesis on Marriage Equality and published it for peer review in 2011-2012.

References

External links

Biglove Alliance Founders

Faith in Love Foundation, Gigi Chao

Hong Kong Marriage Equality Members
1979 births Living people Hong Kong LGBT people Lesbians Hong Kong LGBT rights activists {{HongKong-bio-stub