Hong Kong court: government must recognize same-sex union
Hong Kong's top judges on Tuesday (September 5) opened the path for sweeping legal protections for same sex couples but stopped short of full recognition of gay marriages after a landmark appeal by an LGBTQ activist in a ruling expected to be closely watched in Asia. - REUTERS
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00:00 In a landmark ruling, Hong Kong's top court has paved the way for sweeping legal protections
00:06 for gay couples, though it's stopped short of full recognition of same-sex marriages.
00:12 It's the first time the court has directly addressed the issue in the Asian financial
00:16 hub and could have implications beyond Hong Kong.
00:20 The ruling ends a five-year legal battle by jailed pro-democracy activist Jimmy Sham to
00:26 get the government to recognize his marriage to a man in New York in 2013.
00:32 While the five judges did not grant Sham's appeal that he had a constitutional right
00:37 to a same-sex marriage in Hong Kong, they have demanded the government create new legal
00:41 protections for same-sex couples in their daily lives.
00:45 Lawyers and activists say that's significant as it forges a path for the creation of a
00:50 legal protection in a whole range of areas, potentially from health care and insurance
00:56 to inheritance and taxation issues.
01:00 Hong Kong's government now has two years to make changes.
01:03 Lawyers say these could be done without complex constitutional changes to the Basic Law, the
01:08 document that guides Hong Kong's relationship with its Chinese sovereign since its return
01:13 from British colonial rule in 1997.
01:16 The judges ruled that the Basic Law's marriage protections were confined to opposite-sex
01:21 marriage.
01:22 The Hong Kong government has yet to comment.
01:26 The ruling is being closely watched across Asia, a largely socially conservative region
01:31 where only Taiwan and Nepal allow same-sex unions.
01:36 Some activists believe it could influence Asian financial hubs from Tokyo to Singapore
01:41 to draft more inclusive laws as a drawcard for international talent and global corporations.
01:47 But it remains unclear if the ruling will have any impact in mainland China, where homosexuality
01:52 was decriminalised in 1997 and in 2001 removed from its list of mental illnesses.
02:00 Same-sex marriage is not recognised there and no official legal protections exist.