Hong Kong Lawmakers Overwhelmingly Reject Same-Sex Rights Bill

Since the Chinese government imposed a major overhaul of Hong Kong’s political system four years ago, the city’s legislature has been stacked with loyalists who have sided with the administration on almost every issue.

But one law proposed by the Hong Kong government faced opposition from a large number of lawmakers. It aimed to provide recognition of some same-sex partnerships and bestow people in such relationships with new rights, such as the authority to make medical decisions on behalf of their partners.

On Wednesday, 71 of the city’s 89 legislators voted against the bill.

Holden Chow, the vice chair of the city’s largest pro-Beijing party, had said that enacting the bill could “result in dire consequences” for traditional Chinese family values. But Hong Kong Marriage Equality, an advocacy group, urged the government to reintroduce the bill after legislative council elections in December.

Hong Kong does not recognize same-sex marriage. The proposed law would have allowed same-sex couples who married or entered a civil union overseas to register as lawful couples in Hong Kong, and would have extended some rights to them.

Once registered, people in same-sex relationships would have been entitled to rights related to medical matters involving their partners, including taking part in medical decisions. They would also have been allowed to make arrangements if their partners died, including burial, cremation and the keeping of ashes.

The bill did not cover parental or adoption rights, and did not directly address public welfare benefits for couples.

The opposition to the bill dismayed activists who said it represented an important step forward for equal rights, even if it fell short of similar laws elsewhere. Taiwan’s government became the first in Asia to to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019. Nepal and Thailand followed in 2023 and 2025.

Supporters also argued that recognizing same-sex couples would be good for Hong Kong’s reputation as an international financial hub.

“If you’re trying to attract people from different parts of the world — this is part of what you have to deal with, because people have families and partners,” said Denise Tang, the head of cultural studies at Lingnan University, who researches lesbians and aging in Hong Kong. She said the opposition to the bill goes against public opinion in the city.

The most recent study on the topic, published in 2023, showed that 60 percent of people in Hong Kong supported same-sex marriage.

The political opposition to the bill has put Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, in an awkward spot. The city’s top court had ordered the government to pass legislation recognizing same-sex couples’ rights by this fall. Mr. Lee encouraged lawmakers to pass the bill, arguing that the rule of law was the cornerstone of Hong Kong’s success.

But he has also said that the government would respect the final decision of the legislature.

Hong Kong courts have in recent years granted small victories to residents who had married their same-sex partners abroad, upholding their rights to spousal visas and benefits related to taxation, public housing and inheritance.

In a landmark case, the activist Jimmy Sham challenged the lack of recognition and protections for same-sex couples in 2018. In 2023, the city’s highest court ruled that the government had an obligation to establish an “alternate” framework that legally recognizes same-sex couples, “dispelling any sense that they belong to an inferior class of persons whose relationship is undeserving of recognition.” The courts gave the government two years to draft and pass a framework.

Still, the court upheld the legal definition of marriage as a monogamous union between a man and a woman in the model of a “Christian marriage or its civil equivalent.”

“What we want is an equal opportunity to core rights,” Mr. Sham said in a recent phone interview.

Hong Kong Marriage Equality, an advocacy group, said in a statement that the vote sent “a troubling signal” that “court rulings may be disregarded and the dignity of individuals overlooked.” It urged the government to reintroduce the bill after legislative council elections in December.

Erick Tsang, Hong Kong’s secretary for constitutional affairs, told reporters that the government would consider its next steps in discussions with the Department of Justice, but would not seek an extension of the court-imposed deadline of Oct. 27 to pass the legislation.

Mr. Chow, the vice chair of the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said that the authorities should deal with issues like after-death arrangements with specific administrative measures, rather than legal recognition.

He described the bill as a de facto recognition of same-sex marriage, which risked “opening a Pandora’s box” of related “issues,” such as same-sex adoptions.

Nick Infinger is a social worker who successfully sued the government after he and his husband, whom he married in Canada, were denied public housing.

Many Chinese parents have trouble accepting that their children are gay because they worry about them being shunned by society, he said in an interview. He hoped that greater legal protection could help them feel more assured.

“It’s something I didn’t have, so I hope future generations can have it,” he said.