Opinion | The way Hong Kong tackles issue of rights for same-sex couples will test its claim to be Asia’s World City

A lack of recognition undermines the ability of sexual minorities to enjoy basic respect in many areas of the law

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Thousands attend Hong Kong's third Pink Dot celebration on Sunday. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 4:15pm, 26 Sep 2016Updated: 7:00pm, 27 Feb 2017

At a time when more than 20 countries around the world have legalised same-sex marriage, it seems unfathomable that some basic rights of same-sex couples are being denied in Hong Kong, including the right to claim the ashes of one’s deceased partner.

In June this year, Cyd Ho Sau-lan, then a lawmaker, proposed amendments to the Private Columbaria Bill that was passing through the Legislative Council. She wanted to extend the definition of the word “relative” in the bill to include a deceased person’s same-sex partner in a marriage, civil partnership or civil union in any jurisdiction outside Hong Kong, so as to ensure that such persons would be eligible to claim for the return of the deceased person’s ashes.

The suggested amendment was indeed very limited in scope and scale. The number of same-sex couples in such relationships in Hong Kong is unquestionably small.

Yet, the suggested amendment ran into resistance from the government and opposition from the Catholic Diocese of Hong Kong. The Food and Health Bureau claimed that if the government accepted the amendment, it would have to incur much public expenditure to seek legal advice and research on the topic.

Even if marriage equality is not politically feasible at this stage, we should still endeavour to achieve greater equality for same-sex couples in as many areas of law as possible

The fate of the suggested amendment in the new Legco session now remains to be seen, but it is certainly clear that recognition of same-sex relationships (or the lack thereof) influences many different aspects of the lives of same-sex couples. There are two ongoing judicial review cases concerning the recognition of same-sex relationships registered overseas for fringe benefits, taxation allowance and dependent visa purposes.