Granting dependant visas to gay spouses would open 'back door' to same-sex marriage, Hong Kong lawyer argues
The decision to refuse lesbian dependant visa was based on marital status, lawyer says
Granting dependant visas to the spouses of gay and lesbian residents would open the back door to same-sex marriages in the city, the High Court heard yesterday.
Barrister Stewart Wong Kai-ming SC, representing the Immigration Department, issued the warning at a judicial review in which the government is accused of infringing the human rights of homosexuals by refusing to grant such visas to their partners.
"We could not allow them to open the back door to same-sex marriage," Wong said, adding that common law did not accept same-sex marriage. The director of the department, in deciding whether to grant a dependant visa, had to consider such effects, he said.
He said the department's decision to refuse a dependant visa to QT - the lesbian at the centre of the judicial review whose identity is being protected in court - was based on her marital status, not her sexual orientation.
Wong said the case did not involve sexual discrimination and so did not breach the Bill of Rights Ordinance, which protects people from discrimination on gender grounds. QT filed the application last year after she was twice refused a dependant visa.