Transgender marriage law vetoed by Legco

The security minister came under fire from lawmakers yesterday for failing to lobby enough support before trying to push through law revisions in favour of transgender marriage.

Amendments to the marriage laws that were merely straightforward changes meant to comply with a top-court ruling last year were voted down by equal numbers of pro-establishment and pan-democratic legislators.

The government's Marriage (Amendment) Bill 2014 seeks to revise the Marriage Ordinance after the Court of Final Appeal ruled in July last year that a transgender woman, W, could marry her boyfriend as it was unconstitutional to ban her from doing so.

Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok told lawmakers the bill was only seeking to synchronise the ordinance with the ruling. "It does not add any extra requirement apart from the Court of Final Appeal's judgment."

However, pan-democrats objected to the bill's requirement that a person must undergo full gender reassignment surgery to be considered transgender. W had gone through the operation before, Labour Party lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan said on the sidelines of the Legislative Council meeting, but turning it into part of the law was another matter.

Since July, transgender people have been allowed to register to marry legally, after the expiry of a 12-month buffer the court granted for the government to consider amending the law. Legco has yet to approve the revisions, though, because of filibustering before its summer recess.