Hong Kong’s top court yesterday ruled in favor of recognizing same-sex partnerships, including civil unions, but stopped short of granting full marriage rights in a partial win for the territory’s LGBTQ community.
Over the past decade, LGBTQ campaigners in the former British colony have won piecemeal victories in court, striking down discriminatory government policies on visas, taxes and housing benefits.
However, the case brought by jailed democracy advocate Jimmy Sham (岑子杰) is the first time Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal has directly addressed the issue of same-sex marriage.
Photo: AFP
In its ruling, the court said 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 registered civil partnerships or civil unions).”
The court gave “a period of two years” for authorities to comply with the ruling by creating a framework, leaving specifics to be decided by the government and the opposition-free legislature.
However, 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.
Since Hong Kong’s handover in 1997, it has enjoyed a semi-autonomous status that allows it more freedoms than on the mainland, and its legal system is governed under a common law system.
The territory has in recent years seen increasing support among its population for same-sex marriage — a stark contrast to the mainland where social stigma is widespread and the LGBTQ community have alleged a growing crackdown on their already-limited space.
A poll this year found that 60 percent of Hong Kongers supported same-sex marriage, compared with just 38 percent a decade earlier.
The challenge launched by Sham, 36, began in 2018. He is currently behind bars awaiting prosecution for national security charges unrelated to LGBTQ rights, and was not brought to court yesterday.
Sham had argued that Hong Kong’s ban on same-sex marriage breached 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.
However, he had twice failed to convince Hong Kong’s lower courts to legally recognize his marriage to his partner, which was registered in New York nearly a decade earlier.
The judges yesterday agreed with the lower courts that under Hong Kong’s Basic Law, “the constitutional freedom of marriage ... is confined to opposite-sex marriage and does not extend to same-sex marriage”.
However, they conceded that Sham had “compellingly advocated” for access to an alternative framework for legal recognition of their relationship.
Citing issues like making medical decisions if their partner is ill or dividing assets at a relationship’s end, the judges said “such needs must be addressed in Hong Kong where no means of legal recognition for same-sex relationships presently exists.”
Gender studies academic Suen Yiu-tung (孫耀東) called the ruling “a partial, but very important victory” for Hong Kong, which decriminalized sexual acts between adult men in 1991.
“Still, the marriage system is an important institution in society both symbolically as well as granting access to a lot of rights,” he said.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
CONFLICTING REPORTS: Beijing said it was ‘not familiar with the matter’ when asked if Chinese jets were used in the conflict, after Pakistan’s foreign minister said they were The Pakistan Army yesterday said it shot down 25 Indian drones, a day after the worst violence between the nuclear-armed rivals in two decades. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to retaliate after India launched deadly missile strikes on Wednesday morning, escalating days of gunfire along their border. At least 45 deaths were reported from both sides following Wednesday’s violence, including children. Pakistan’s military said in a statement yesterday that it had “so far shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones” at multiple location across the country. “Last night, India showed another act of aggression by sending drones to multiple locations,” Pakistan military spokesman Ahmed
RSS