Stronger LGBTQ rights in Asia will send ‘clear message’ in fight for global talent

In Hong Kong’s highest court, five judges are deliberating whether to recognise same-sex marriages conducted overseas.

Their decision, expected later this year, could influence Asian financial hubs from Tokyo to Singapore to draft more inclusive laws as a drawcard for the diverse, global talent that multinational corporations from banks to technology giants are seeking to hire and retain.

Only Taiwan and Nepal allow same-sex unions in Asia, where largely conservative values still dominate politics and society.

Some countries, however, have recently taken inclusive steps, including India, where the Supreme Court is debating whether to allow same-sex marriage in the world’s most populous nation; South Korea, where lawmakers proposed a same-sex marriage bill in May; and Singapore, which last year scrapped a British colonial era law criminalising sex between men.

In Hong Kong, the five-year legal battle by democracy and LGBTQ rights activist Jimmy Sham for his New York marriage to be recognised at home has helped raise awareness, with a poll this year showing over 60 per cent of respondents supported same-sex marriage, almost double the number in 2013.

Hong Kong will also host Asia’s first Gay Games in November, its first major LGBTQ-focused event, and if the Court of Final Appeal rules in Sham’s favour, the city would be the most advanced among its financial hub peers in terms of LGBTQ rights, activists and businesses say.