Lead on recognising same-sex unions in Hong Kong must start with government not courts, lawyers and activists say
- Burden should not be left on people to mount legal challenges on the grounds of discrimination, human rights lawyers and activists say
- Raymond Chan, city’s only openly gay legislator, calls for public consultation on allowing same-sex unions in Hong Kong
Lawyers and activists have urged the government to take the lead in drawing up a legal framework for the recognition of same-sex relationships in Hong Kong rather than leaving decisions to the courts, which struck down a major case seeking to recognise foreign gay marriages last week.
They accused the administration of leaving the burden on people to mount legal challenges on the grounds of discrimination, which could be expensive, time-consuming and emotionally draining for plaintiffs.
However, Justice Anderson Chow Ka-ming found Sham’s attempt to achieve complete parity of legal recognition “too ambitious” and “fundamentally flawed” when the basic question of whether there was differential treatment “cannot be answered in a vacuum”, without subject matter or context, which Hong Kong’s top court had ruled as a “crucial” consideration.
Sham was considering whether to file an appeal, according to a source. Plaintiffs have 28 days to do so for final hearings.