Lawmakers vote in the Legislative Council Chamber in Hong Kong on Wednesday. They rejected a bill that would have granted limited recognition to same-sex couples.PETER PARKS/AFP/Getty Images
Lawmakers in Hong Kong on Wednesday rejected a government bill to offer limited recognition for same-sex partnerships, defying a historic ruling by the territory’s top court.
In 2023, Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal said the government had to provide “legal recognition” for same-sex couples within two years. In July, officials put forward a bill that would allow same-sex couples who married overseas to register their partnerships in Hong Kong, giving them some of the same rights as locally married heterosexual couples.
While the proposal was roundly criticized by LGBTQ groups for falling short of the new legal framework required by the court ruling, it was too far for many lawmakers, who claimed it would undermine traditional marriage and went against societal norms – despite consistent polling showing a majority of Hong Kongers support full same-sex marriage.
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With only one political party backing the bill, most observers expected it to be defeated Wednesday, but the result was still remarkable. It is the first time a piece of government legislation has been rejected by lawmakers since Beijing overhauled Hong Kong’s election system, drastically limiting the right of voters to choose representatives and restricting seats to pre-approved “patriots.”
“Today is a disappointing day for Hong Kong,” NGO Hong Kong Marriage Equality said in a statement, adding the bill’s rejection “sends a troubling signal to both local and international communities – that court rulings may be disregarded and the dignity of individuals overlooked.”
Reacting to the legislation’s overwhelming 71-14 defeat, Nadia Rahman, a policy adviser at Amnesty International, said the setback “shows just how far Hong Kong has to go before everyone in the city can enjoy equal rights.”
“The proposed bill on same-sex partnerships was flawed, but in rejecting it the government has shown an alarming disdain for LGBTQ rights,” Ms. Rahman said.
“This bill would have provided the bare minimum of protection for same-sex couples – but notably, only those who registered their partnership overseas. On this and other grounds, the draft considered today falls far short of the intentions of the court ruling that triggered it two years ago.”
Amnesty joined 30 other organizations across Asia in issuing an open letter earlier this week, calling on the Hong Kong government to fully comply with the CFA ruling and its obligations under international human rights law “by establishing a comprehensive legal framework that recognizes same-sex partnerships and allows all same-sex couples to enter into a local, legally registered partnership.”
Speaking in favour of the bill during Wednesday’s debate, lawmaker Martin Liao said it “cannot be denied” that same-sex couples experience “discrimination and unfairness in Hong Kong.”
He said that without recognition of same-sex partnerships, LGBTQ people could feel “inferior and humiliated,” according to the Hong Kong Free Press.
But he faced fierce opposition from conservative lawmakers, who claimed that passing the bill would be “opening Pandora’s box” and would “rock the foundation of the monogamous and heterosexual marriage system in Hong Kong.”
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In 2019, Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, followed by Nepal and Thailand in 2023 and 2025. Same-sex partnerships are also recognized at the provincial level in almost all of Japan, and lawmakers have previously introduced legislation to legalize marriage equality nationwide.
“International experience makes clear that extending equal treatment to same-sex relationships harms neither society nor marriage,” Hong Kong Marriage Equality said. “On the contrary, societies are strengthened when dignity is respected and stigma removed.”
Hong Kong leader John Lee had lobbied for the bill to be passed, though he promised to respect the decision of the semi-elected legislature. While Hong Kong’s courts have repeatedly ruled in favour of greater LGBTQ rights in recent years, they have often done so against a government that appeals cases up to the highest court and drags its feet on implementing rulings.
What happens now is unclear. The government will soon be in breach of the 2023 judgment, in which the court appeared to leave open the possibility of a more direct judicial intervention to protect LGBTQ rights, as happened in many countries in the West during a wave of legalization in the 2010s.
Chief Justice Andrew Cheung, writing in the 2023 ruling, pointed out that Article 37 of the Hong Kong Basic Law does not mention gender, and states merely that “the freedom of marriage of Hong Kong residents and their right to raise a family freely shall be protected by law.”
No attempt had been made in the case being considered to ask whether that part of the territory’s de facto constitution provided for same-sex marriages rights, Chief Justice Cheung said, before noting future rulings might give it a “wider, more liberal interpretation.”