CCNCTO and Same-Sex Rights
In the beginning of 2004, CCNCTO and its members were invited to participate as opponents in a televised debate on the issue of same-sex marriage. It was apparent that the visible contingent of Chinese protestors in last summer’s orchestrated show of support for Church sponsored family values at Parliament Hill had created a damaging stereotype of the ‘homophobic Chinese’ for the general public.

CCNCTO invited many Asian community groups to come together to build a progressive voice in a show of support for same-sex marriage. All in all over 25 organizations sponsored the mission statement of the newly formed, Asian Canadians For Equal Marriage (ACFEM). ACFEM was publicly launched to the media on June 8, 2004 and the public impact with the Chinese press was generally positive. When there was no voice of support before ACFEM, there is one today. Most recently, our National office has continued to conduct further activities as per their mandate on the lobbying of federal legislation, such as marriage.