Hong Kong: Taking steps towards rights for same-sex couples
In a groundbreaking move, the top court in Hong Kong has ordered the region’s government to establish a framework that will legally recognize the rights of same-sex couples. Five judges from the Final Court of Appeal delivered their vote following years of legal warfare with the government over their refusal to acknowledge same-sex partnerships under civil union or marriage.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Hong Kong in 1991, but since that time little else has changed in terms of acknowledging the human rights of the region’s LGBTQ population.
In this particular ruling, the five judges in question determined that the freedom to marry was guaranteed under Hong Kong’s constitution but that, at present, it referred only to “heterosexual marriage.”
The ruling spoke out in favor of the LGBTQ community, stating that a new framework was needed that granted legal recognition of this community with the intention of providing “them 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 government in Hong Kong two years to comply with the ruling.
This is a step forward in the quest for same-sex equality in the Asia region. At present, only Taiwan and Nepal allow same-sex unions and the LGBTQ community throughout the rest of Asia continues to fight for their rights.
Hong Kong is connected to mainland China however until 1997 it was officially governed by British rule. When the region was handed over to China, Hong Kong kept its own economy and systems of government. It has since operated under a policy of “one country, two systems”. However, in more recent times, the people of Hong Kong have definitely felt the pressure as the Chinese Community Party from the mainland has tried to exert itself into their ways of life, their government, and their legal system.
Same-sex marriage is not legal in mainland China. It remains unclear if the CCP will try and block this new initiative in some way.
Watch this space as more information about this important story breaks.
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Featured image: Felix Wong/Reuters/File
