For the first time since the legislative Council has been fully controlled by Beijing, Hong Kong’s parliament has rejected a proposal from the city council. Only fourteen of the 86 councilors supported a change in the law that gives couples of the same sex, under certain conditions, slightly more rights.
Such a defeat did not suffer the city council since a reform in 2021, which stipulated that only ‘patriotic parties’ can participate in the elections.
According to the rejected proposal, gay posts would, among other things, receive the right to visit in hospitals, and the possibility to make decisions about medical treatments or the funeral of their partner. The condition was that the couples had their commitment recorded in Hong Kong, after they were married abroad or entered into a registered partnership. That is not possible in Hong Kong itself.
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It was already clear in advance that there was little support for that plan. In an earlier debate on the issue, for example, Stanley NG, representative on behalf of a Beijing-minded trade union, had warned that the proposal “completely turns our values and foundations upside down”. Holden Chow, who speaks on behalf of the largest party in the Council, the DAB, feared that the plan would open the door to recognizing same -sex marriage, according to him with major consequences for ‘fundamental family values’, thus Hong Kong Free Press.
But also activists who are committed to equal rights for LGBTI people were critical. The organization Hong Kong Marriage Equality called the plan In July “a miniscule step” that “falls a serious shortage to offer all the couples and families the complete recognition they deserve.” According to HKME, the condition that couples first had to get married outside of Hong Kong had unfair thresholds.
High -right
The fact that the city council nevertheless submitted the plan was the result of a ruling of the highest court in Hong Kong from 2023. He then ruled that the lack of any formal recognition of homorelations was discriminatory, and instructed the city council to come up with a regulation within two years.
That case was brought by Jimmy Sham, an activist who was married to his partner in the United States. Sham (38) conducted that case from prison, from which he was released this year in May. He was detained for over four years because of his involvement in the ProDemocratic ‘Hong Kong 47’.
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Now that the proposal has been killed, the city council faces a problem. On the one hand, Hong Kong wants to show that it is a constitutional state where judicial judgments are followed, but on the other hand also respect the judgment of parliament. Erick Tsang, the director responsible for Constitutional Affairs, told journalists after the vote that he was ‘disappointed’, and that he will consult to find a solution.
Tsang concluded that Hong Kong will ask the court to postpone the deadline of 27 October to lift the issue of December elections, such as HKME in a reaction had asked.
‘No stamping machine’
Beijing responded delighted to the mood. In an article, the Bureau for Hong Kongse and Macause Affairs pointed out the importance of “common social values” and called the outcome proof that the legislative council is “not a stamping machine”. The office also warned of “those who politicized the issue to disturb social harmony and stability in Hong Kong,” quotes The Beijing-minded newspaper The Standard.
The support for same -sex marriage has grown strongly in Hong Kong in recent decades. By one research Of three universities from 2023, 60 percent of the population is in favor of opening marriage to the same sex. At the moment Taiwan and Thailand are the only places in Asia where that has already happened.
The position of LGBTI’ers in Hong Kong has been improved by no means in recent years, usually by judicial statements. Since 2018, for example, the city recognizes marriages of foreign gay couples. And earlier this week, a judge in a case judged by a lesbian couple who should be recognized not only the biological mother, but also her partner as a parent of their four -year -old child.