Is proposal to recognise same-sex partnerships in Hong Kong dead on arrival?
Government may punt vote to next Legco term and argue its obligation under top court ruling has been fulfilled even if bill is rejected by lawmakers, experts say
A proposal by the Hong Kong government to recognise same-sex partnerships in line with a top court ruling may hit a dead end amid mounting opposition in the legislature, with one legal expert saying authorities may consider a rejection as closing the file on the controversy.
Failure to enact the legislation could mean that same-sex couples would continue to be barred from having their relationships officially recognised in the near future and invite more judicial challenges, lawyers warned on Friday.
The Court of Final Appeal found the government was violating the Bill of Rights when it ruled in favour of a judicial challenge by activist Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit in 2023. It gave the government two years to draw up laws setting out “core rights” of same-sex couples, but did not outline what they might be.
On Friday, lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, the convenor of the key decision-making Executive Council, said she and five other members of her New People’s Party would vote in favour of the “very practical and basic” proposal by the government, a day after several major political parties voiced opposition to the plan in the Legislative Council.
In a paper submitted to Legco on Wednesday, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau proposed allowing same-sex couples to apply to have their relationship recognised in Hong Kong if they had first registered it in another jurisdiction.
The move would grant same-sex couples some rights, such as those related to medical and after-death matters, although some LGBTQ activists described the proposal as conservative and vague.