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Connor Mycroft

When Hong Kong’s Legislative Council vetoed a government bill that would have granted limited recognition to the city’s same-sex couples, 51-year-old Isaac Yick said he was “disappointed but not surprised”.
Yick was born and raised in Hong Kong before moving to Canada, where he eventually met and married his husband. They returned to the city together in 2013.
He said there was initially a sense that things were changing for the LGBTQ community in the city, citing victories in court that conferred some rights for same-sex couples, including one landmark case from 2019 involving spousal benefits.
“It would still have to go through all the courts, which was unnecessary, but once the decision was handed down, we saw the change,” he said.
So when the Court of Final Appeal ruled in 2023 that the government had a positive obligation to recognise same-sex partnerships in the city, there was reason for optimism.
But by the time the government’s bill made its way to Legco two years later, Yick had the feeling legal recognition was not going to happen. In the year since the bill was rejected, the pace of change had slowed considerably, he said.
“I think it’s still progressing but, since the veto, the speed has slowed down quite significantly. There’s more uncertainty,” he said.
As the government continues to mull over how to “administratively” protect the rights of same-sex couples after the bill was vetoed, members of the city’s LGBTQ community told the South China Morning Post they remained stuck in limbo and were awaiting signs of a path forward.

“It has been one year and we still haven’t heard anything from the government,” said Jerome Yau, chief executive of the NGO Aids Concern, who also previously co-founded the advocacy group Hong Kong Marriage Equality.
“Until such time the government announces what it intends to do … I guess we are sort of in a holding pattern.”
The bill was the government’s response to a 2023 ruling by the Court of Final Appeal, which gave authorities two years to draw up laws to set out “core rights” for same-sex couples.
The legislation would have allowed couples who had a valid same-sex marriage, partnership or civil union registered in a jurisdiction outside Hong Kong to have their relationship recognised in the city under a proposed registration mechanism, but it was rejected by 71 out of 87 lawmakers.
The veto marked the first time a government bill had failed to be greenlit by Legco since Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system in 2021 so that only “patriots” could hold public office in Hong Kong.
According to some lawmakers, their reasons for voting against the bill included a lack of public consensus on the issue.
Immediately after the bill was vetoed, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau would look at how to “administratively” protect the rights of the LGBTQ community, including those related to healthcare and property.
In a response to a detailed list of questions from the SCMP, the bureau said the government had performed its duty by proposing the Registration of Same-Sex Partnerships Bill last year, and that it respected lawmakers’ votes and Legco’s final decision.
“As directed by the chief executive, we are now exploring administrative measures to provide appropriate protections for same-sex partners in relevant areas. The relevant work is in progress,” the bureau said.
It did not provide an exact timeline for when such measures would be announced, nor any examples of what rights they might include.
Yau said he had doubts administrative measures alone would be enough to satisfy the requirements of the court’s ruling, and he was hopeful the government would go further than the proposed bill to confer rights to same-sex couples.
“Ideally, it would go further than that because what was covered in the original bill was really basic,” he said.
The proposed legislation would have granted rights related to medical and after-death matters.
While the LGBTQ community has gained some rights over the years through a series of court victories, many gaps remain.

A report released earlier this year by global law firm A&O Shearman, commissioned by the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s gender studies programme, found 21 areas in which a person might be treated differently due to their relationship status, including those relating to children, housing and public welfare.
The report also noted inconsistencies within the same legal domain, as only certain parts of the law were successfully challenged.
As an example, it noted that while a same-sex spouse might have first priority to “inherit on intestacy” – when someone dies without a will – they might have lower, or even no, priority to administer the estate under existing grant rules.
Lawyer Azan Marwah, who has handled numerous cases pertaining to LGBTQ rights, said he believed administrative measures could help same-sex couples in certain legal areas.
However, there were still many areas where the lack of legislation would run up against existing laws that were partial to straight married couples, he added.
“We are not going to have a true or complete solution,” he said.
Forty-year-old Hongkonger Mandy, who asked to be referred to only by her first name, travelled to Australia – where citizenship is not required for marriage – in 2019 to marry her wife surrounded by friends and family.
She said it was important to get married, even if it was abroad, as a commitment of love and to show those who remained closeted about their sexuality that it was safe to be themselves.
Despite the lack of legal recognition for her marital status in Hong Kong, she held out hope that things would eventually change.
“I hope in the coming future, our marriage [will be] legally recognised here,” she said. “We deserve to be recognised.”


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Hong Kong society

A year after lawmakers veto equality bill, LGBTQ Hongkongers still hope for change

A rainbow flag at the 2019 Pride Parade in Central, which was downgraded to a rally after police rejected organisers’ application for a street march. Photo: Felix Wong

Aids Concern CEO Jerome Yau says he hopes any new plan by the government will do more to further LGBTQ rights than the equality bill that Legco failed to pass in 2025. Photo: Edmond So

Lawyer Azan Marwah (centre) says there are many areas where proposed policies could run up against existing laws that are partial to straight married couples. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

The bill was a response to a 2023 ruling by the Court of Final Appeal, which gave authorities two years to draw up laws to set out “core rights” for same-sex couples. But 71 out of 87 lawmakers rejected the proposal. Photo: Jelly Tse

Hong Kong lawmakers vote down bill recognising same-sex partnerships

Lawmakers said the bill had not managed to gain social consensus. Photo: elly Tse

Lawmaker Regina Ip voted in favour of the bill. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Hong Kong to seek administrative measures to protect same-sex couple rights

Hong Kong authorities are considering administrative measures to protect the rights of same-sex couples. Photo: Eugene Lee

Chief Executive John Lee says same-sex partnerships remain a “contentious issue” in Hong Kong. Photo: Elson Li

News

Hong Kong

Society

A year after Legco votes down bill protecting rights of same-sex couples, LGBTQ people remain in limbo as government mulls ‘administrative’ solution


A year after Legco votes down bill protecting rights of same-sex couples, LGBTQ people remain in limbo as government mulls ‘administrative’ solution.


LGBTQ

China

Australia

Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau

A year after lawmakers veto equality bill, LGBTQ Hongkongers still hope for change

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A year after Legco votes down bill protecting rights of same-sex couples, LGBTQ people remain in limbo as government mulls ‘administrative’ solution

A year after Legco votes down bill protecting rights of same-sex couples, LGBTQ people remain in limbo as government mulls ‘administrative’ solution