Hong Kong court grants appeal to recognise same-sex partnerships in victory for LGBTQ community

The Court of Final Appeal on Tuesday ruled that the failure of the government to provide alternative means of recognising same-sex partnerships was a violation of constitutional rights to equality and privacy.

But the court dismissed the appellant’s request for recognition of same-sex marriage on the grounds that such a relationship was barred by the constitutional documents of the city.

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The court also ordered that its declaration be suspended for two years for the government to formulate an official framework of recognising unions between members of the same sex.

The judicial challenge by detained activist Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit is the first case to ask the highest arbiters the ultimate question of whether same-sex couples have a right to marry under the statute of the city.

Sham, 36, applied for a judicial review in 2018 for a declaration that Hong Kong laws were unconstitutional insofar as they recognised foreign heterosexual marriages but not same-sex ones, such as his, registered in New York in 2013.

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Sham’s bid was one of three similar applications lodged in 2018 that attacked the government for failing to provide at the very least a status equivalent to marriage.

The remaining case, started by a former university student identified as TF, was adjourned indefinitely pending the resolution of MK’s challenge.

Hong Kong only recognises same-sex marriage for limited purposes such as taxation, inheritance rights and civil service benefits. The concessions were mostly achieved through legal action taken over the last few years in a piecemeal approach.

The government has still to carry out a wider review of its policies on same-sex unions.