Remember that Hong Kong billionaire who wasn't happy about his daughter being lesbian so offered £40million for a suitable man to marry her? Well, he's at it again - only this time he's doubled his offer to £80m for the right man.
Property tycoon Chao Sze-tsung is aware that his openly gay daughter is in a relationship with a woman, but insists that at 33, Gigi may still be able to change and marry a man. 'I only hope for her to have a good marriage and children as well as inherit my business,' he told one Malaysian newspaper, clearly missing the point that a lesbian woman could - shock horror - also have a good marriage and children.
Mr. Chao made his first offer in 2012, and his company received over 20,000 phone calls from men wanting to marry Gigi. At the time, she said that she was 'a really lucky girl to have such a loving daddy, because it's really sweet of him to do something like this as an expression of his fatherly love.' But now her dad's upped his offer, she doesn't seem entirely happy. 'I don't think my dad's offering of any amount of money would be able to attract a man I would find attractive. Alternatively, I would be happy to befriend any man willing to donate huge amounts of money to my charity, Faith in Love, provided they don't mind that I already have a wife.'
Gigi Chao is a respected LGBT activist in Hong Kong, and has been with her partner Sean Eav for nine years. Eav is said to be ‘distraught’ over the recent dowry increase, and the pair have repeatedly asked Mr. Chao to stop his crusade. Still, Gigi - all credit to her - seems able to remain calm and insists that life is going on as normal at home and in their property development company where she works with her dad. 'At the office it's business as usual. At family gatherings we hug and dance. And we just agree to disagree on what marriage is and family is. I understand that he loves me, it's just he's from another time and it's difficult for him to understand the plight of the LGBT community.' Puts a whole new perspective on that way your parents are always trying to set you up with that 'lovely boy down the road', doesn't it?
Picture: Rex
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.