Years of activism resulted in a Hong Kong same-sex partnership bill, but a tough vote remains

HONG KONG — At her wedding, Jaedyn Yu felt her father’s tears marked a subtle yet touching shift in his attitude toward love between two women.

Yu’s family initially struggled to accept her partner after they fell in love in 2019. Seeking both family recognition and legal rights, the couple decided to marry.

But rather than waiting for Hong Kong to establish its framework for recognizing same-sex partnerships, citing the uncertain timeline, they opted to marry via Zoom with a U.S. officiant in May and held their ceremony in Bali, Indonesia.

Their concern proved prescient. Despite the top court ruling in favor of recognizing same-sex partnerships in 2023, the government’s proposed framework, unveiled in July, has met fierce opposition in the legislature.

If passed, the bill would allow residents who already have formed unions overseas to register their partnerships locally and receive rights in handling medical and after-death matters. Lawmakers are set to resume the debate Wednesday, with their vote determining the future of the city’s same-sex couples.

Yu’s wife, Gloria Tsang, said while the proposal was better than nothing, it would only benefit those who are privileged enough to afford overseas marriages and navigate foreign marriage policies.

“The original purpose of law is to protect everyone,” Tsang said.

Decades of progress

The fight for same-sex rights has taken years to gain traction in Hong Kong. The city decriminalized gay sex in 1991.

Prominent gay rights activist Jimmy Sham said that in the past some gay and lesbian people stayed on the sidelines or concealed their identities at events about gay rights.

But in 2005, after groups upholding traditional family values ran newspaper advertisements deemed to undermine gay and lesbian rights, more people emerged to mark International Day Against Homophobia, he said.

Pride parades, among other events, later took to the streets and gained support beyond the LGBTQ+ community.

In 2009, the government introduced a cohabitation relationship definition in a revision to the domestic violence law, extending protection to same-sex couples, in a move that Sham said showed political wisdom.

Some celebrities have come out publicly and now many same-sex couples are seen holding hands in the streets, he said.

Surveys showed 60% of respondents supported same-sex marriage in 2023 in Hong Kong, up from 38% in 2013, according to a report by university researchers. The city also hosted Asia’s first Gay Games in 2023.

LGBTQ+ activism in Hong Kong is still making considerable progress despite a government crackdown following massive protests in 2019.

In recent years, multiple judicial challenges have won same-sex couples equal rights in some areas including dependent visas, civil service and subsidized housing benefits. On Tuesday, a judge ruled in favor of a lesbian couple’s parental recognition of their son born through reciprocal in vitro fertilization.

In 2023, the top court ruled in a legal challenge brought by Sham that the government should offer a framework for recognizing same-sex partnerships by October 2025. It did not grant full marriage rights to same-sex couples.

That victory mattered deeply to Sham who, at the time, had been in jail since 2021 for the city’s biggest national security case. The court ruling showed he could still make an impact even behind bars, he said.

“Suddenly, I felt those emotional issues being swept away, and I’m back,” said Sham, who was released from jail in May.

Bill faces fierce resistance

While many same-sex couples and advocates find the government’s proposed framework for recognizing same-sex partnership limiting, some still support its passage in the face of opposition from various lawmakers.

Pro-Beijing lawmaker Priscilla Leung described the bill as “opening a paradox box,” while her colleague Holden Chow worried the framework would effectively amount to recognizing same-sex marriages. Another legislator, Junius Ho, said the bill “would harm countless generations of our descendants.”

The government also reported 80% of 10,780 public opinion submissions opposed the bill, mainly citing concerns over traditional family values and the marriage system. Those backing the bill agreed the government should respect the spirit of the rule of law.

Hong Kong Marriage Equality, a non-governmental organization, said the submissions did not accurately reflect public sentiment. It noted about half of the publicly viewable submissions against the bill used standardized templates, which suggested “strong mobilization by specific groups.”

The government maintained the framework would not equate to marriage and argued that requiring overseas registration would provide an objective way to verify committed partnerships. It said the proposal represents the “greatest common denominator” deemed acceptable to the public.

Erick Tsang, the secretary for constitutional affairs, told lawmakers that the government must fulfill its positive obligations under the ruling, otherwise it would violate the rule of law.

The cost of rejection

Sham warned vetoing the bill could damage Hong Kong’s international status.

“It would make the whole world question Hong Kong’s human rights stance, whether it won’t even accept such basic protections for sexual minorities,” he said.

Pro-Beijing lawmaker Paul Tse, who is inclined to support the bill, said the opposition seen in the legislature was greater than he had expected given the bill’s limited scope.

If lawmakers vote the bill down, the city would face a “mini constitutional crisis” as the judicial, administrative and legislative branches would be in a deadlock. The government would then need to report to the top court and seek time to work out other solutions, he said.

Sham previously proposed decoupling the registration system from overseas marriages to address concerns from conservative groups, but Tse cautioned that such a mechanism might trigger more concerns as some people might consider it closer to local marriage.

Equality appears distant for same-sex couples

In Hong Kong, the daily life of same-sex couples is still in many ways different to that of their straight peers.

Yu has to think carefully about telling colleagues about her wife, unlike some of her foreign friends who share such details casually, while Tsang ponders whether to introduce her partner to those who are not close to her. Picking a place for getting married overseas also was a challenge.

The pair don’t hold high expectations about the bill’s passage. Tsang likened the lawmakers’ comments to a return to “antiquated” mindsets, saying the acceptance level might be lower than she had imagined.

Despite the bill not being perfect, she said it would be a pity if it were vetoed as it would mark a step backwards after taking a step forward.

“Equality means providing safeguards regardless of your background, your gender, or your position,” Yu said.