In a partial win for the LGBTQIA+ community on Tuesday, September 5, Hong Kong’s top court has ordered our city’s government to set up a framework that will work towards legally recognising the rights of same-sex couples, including civil unions.
The queer community has been fiercely fighting the Hong Kong government for small victories over the past decade or so, and it has now taken the efforts of jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Sham to finally turn the tide. Sham, who married his partner in New York, has been appealing his case since 2019, challenging the government’s refusal to allow same-sex marriage or at least some form of civil union partnership. He argues that this omission violates his right to equality.
Homosexuality has been decriminalised in Hong Kong since 1991. However, the city’s government does not recognise same-sex marriages or unions – a serious point of contention among the LGBTQIA+ community, since this means they are denied certain rights, equality, and protections that are simply customary for heterosexual partnerships.
Today’s ruling does not equate to full marriage rights, but the court has now 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.” The five judges also said this framework should provide same-sex couples “with a sense of legitimacy, dispelling any sense that they belong to an inferior class of persons whose relationship is undeserving of recognition.”
The court has given the Hong Kong government two years to comply with this ruling.