It seems like it’s one step forward and one step back for gay rights in Hong Kong. After the Hong Kong High Court struck down laws against gay sex earlier this year, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance has ruled against marriage equality.
According to the South China Morning Post, Court of First Instance judge Justice Anderson Chow Ka-ming said Hong Kong law currently doesn’t cover same-sex marriage and that the court ruling on it would be “beyond the proper scope of the functions and powers of the court to change a social policy on a fundamental issue.”
The court took up the case after a lesbian known as MK said her constitutional rights were being violated by the government not providing the options of civil union partnerships or marriage.
While laws against gay sex have been struck down in Hong Kong, same-sex marriage is only recognized in specific instances, such as during visa applications when couples have married overseas, when it involves civil servant benefits, or when taxation is involved.
Tam Man-kei, Amnesty International’s director in Hong Kong, called the ruling “a bitter blow to the city’s sexual minorities.”
That said, the ruling does not mean that there is no longer a chance for marriage equality to become a reality in Hong Kong. As the South China Morning Post points out, the court could issue a new interpretation when appropriate. Even Chow, the judge who ruled against the case, called on the Hong Kong government to make a comprehensive review of its laws connected to the issue.
“The failure to do so will inevitably lead to specific legislations, or policies or decisions of the government or other public bodies being challenged in court on the ground of discrimination on an ad-hoc basis, resulting in an incoherent state of the law,” he said.
That’s rich, because China has more gays and lesbians than any other country in the world!
luv ur last name, honey!
What Chow, the judge, is really saying is that:
the reality is that “Gay Marriages” are here-to-stay…regardless of time/place and rulings.
All The Hong Kong ruling did was to give the Hong Kong People a chance to mill over the inevitability of Gay Marriages and the eventually of Gay Marriages.
Once Pandora’s Box opened, her box’s’ lid will continue to open…regardless of speed; it does not close…all that can be done is to forestall the rapidity of its opening.
Much Ado About Nothing…as usual!
The Court said that ruling on the issue would be “beyond the proper scope of the functions and powers of the court to change a social policy on a fundamental issue.” While that’s not joyful news for militants and activists, it’s the proper outcome. Hong Kong is making strides toward equality. This case was just not on the right road to further that cause.
HUNTER0500
The High Court of Hong Kong was really commenting on the fact that it is not the court’s function to change laws that interfere or supersede moral issues as perceived as social mores.
The High Court does not wish to mandate “Morality.”
However, what I wrote within my post is actually what the High Court is thinking; why put the blame on the High Court for trouncing Morality within Hong Kong when the reality of changing world morality will, eventually, force HK to allow “Gay Marriages” and thus, will allow the High Court to rule without undue blame.
Gay men could care less about marriage. Do they think that if the government legalizes something that makes it legitimate? It’s fucking ridiculous. Only a tiny group of noisy violent leftists put this issue on the table, and the lesbians and feminists and Marxists in general pushed it all the way to the supreme court. To try to legitimize gay sex. Marriage between men is a sham. It has nothing whatsoever to do with traditional monogamy and the raising of children. It’s about having your cake and eating it too. I mean, how can a gay man go from having… Read more »
true, marriage is such a temporary and fleeting kind of a thang .. once you’re done with that hot sex and turns cold, time to put it back into the freezer and getta DIVORCE!
funnies aside, i think gay marriage is important as so many other nations still don’t embrace homosexuality, like some intolerant countries in Africa and Asia
[…] Singapore decision is another gay rights overall in Asia. In October of last year, a Hong Kong court turned down marriage equality, saying that the court deciding on it would be “beyond the proper scope of the functions and […]
say what? yet ANOTHER asian country or territory that STILL got its pipes backed up and living in the stone ages! another asian place in the world that holds onto those traditional, conservative and religious ideals .. tsk tsk tsk, honey!