My Take | Don’t let prejudice infringe the rights of others
- The city’s top court has ruled the government must recognise same-sex marriages legally registered overseas, and it is only fair that local people are granted the same status
Legalised same-sex marriage in Hong Kong is a matter of when, not if. Since the government won’t bow to the inevitable, it has been left to the courts to rectify a fundamental discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Civil servant Angus Leung Chun-kwong, who has won a long-standing legal battle against the government to secure spousal rights and joint tax assessments for his husband and himself, described his victory at the top court as a “small step for equality in Hong Kong”.
He is being modest. It’s a big deal for sexual equality and same-sex marriage. In effect, the Court of Final Appeal is forcing the government to treat the same-sex spouses of civil servants with the same rights and benefits of the more traditional wives and husbands.
This follows last year’s judgment by the top court backing a lesbian expatriate in recognising her overseas marriage for the purpose of getting a spousal visa to live in Hong Kong.
The Civil Service Bureau, inland revenue and immigration departments have all lost their cases, despite wasting taxpayers’ money and the court’s time by repeatedly appealing against them.
With these two judgments by the top court, the government now has no choice but to recognise same-sex marriages that are legally registered in overseas jurisdictions. We will soon be in an odd and discriminatory situation in which same-sex partners who married overseas are recognised as spouses while those in Hong Kong are still denied the same status.