HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s top court ruled on Tuesday (Sep 5) in favour of same-sex partnerships including civil unions but stopped short of granting full marriage rights in a partial win for the city’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community.
Over the past decade, LGBTQ activists in the former British colony have won piecemeal victories in court, striking down discriminatory government policies on visas, taxes and housing benefits.
But the case brought by jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Sham is the first time Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal has directly addressed the issue of same-sex marriage.
In its ruling, the court declared that the Hong Kong government “is in violation of its positive obligation … to establish an alternative framework for legal recognition of same-sex partnerships”, such as civil unions.
But it stopped short of making a decision of full marriage equality for same-sex couples.
The court “unanimously dismisses the appeal in relation” to same-sex marriage and recognition of foreign same-sex marriage, it said in its judgement.
While LGBTQ activism faces political challenges in mainland China, semi-autonomous Hong Kong has seen increasing support among its population for same-sex marriage.
A poll this year found that 60 per cent of Hong Kongers supported same-sex marriage, compared to just 38 per cent a decade ago.
The challenge launched by Sham, 36, had twice failed to convince the courts that Hong Kong should legally recognise his marriage to a same-sex partner, which was registered in New York nearly a decade ago.
In August 2022, appeal judges wrote that Hong Kong’s constitutional text “only provides access to the institution of marriage to heterosexual couples”.
Sham had argued that the city’s ban on same-sex marriage violated his right to equality, while the lack of a policy alternative – such as civil unions – does the same, in addition to breaching his right to privacy.
British rights lawyer Karon Monaghan, representing Sham, told the court in June that the ban disadvantages same-sex couples in areas such as inheritance and housing rentals.
Sham, a prominent democracy campaigner, is one of dozens of activists behind bars awaiting prosecution under the security law on charges unrelated to LGBTQ rights.
Source: CNA
