Ten gay couples from Hong Kong have married in the United States via the Internet
Hong Kong – Ten gay couples married in the United States via the Internet. Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous southern Chinese city that does not formally recognize such marriages, but does offer them legal protection.
The event on Tuesday was held to mark Pride Month, with a registered officiant from the US state of Utah officiating at their wedding. Most states require couples to appear in person to fill out paperwork and show identification, but Utah does not, and its digital application process has made it an option for online weddings since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Family members gathered at a hotel wedding hall in Hong Kong's Kowloon district, where couples exchanged rings and then raised glasses to make toasts.
“I hope one day everyone will accept the fact that love is not just between a man and a woman. It's between two people who love each other,” said Lucas Peng, a 66-year-old Singaporean businessman living in Hong Kong, one of 20 people who tied the knot at Tuesday's semi-virtual event.
“These are two human beings who love each other. That's the key. That's the important part. And to be able to publicly declare our love for each other today is definitely a very important step for us,” Peng said.
Wedding organiser Kurt Tung said he hoped the event would send a message to the public.
“There is no way to go to a marriage registry for marriage in Hong Kong yet, but we can still give them this way to realize their dream of getting married,” Tung said.
In keeping with cultural and religious traditions, Hong Kong only recognizes marriage between a man and a woman. Self-governing Taiwan is the closest place that issues gay marriages, and Hong Kong recognizes the legal rights of those couples, though the city does not call them marriages. It has no laws banning gay relationships.
In September, Hong Kong's top court ruled that the local government must provide a legal framework to recognise same-sex partnerships, including inheritance rights, joint custody of children, taxation, marital visas and benefits from employment with the local government.
It comes as LGBTQ+ rights activist Jimmy Shum, who married his husband in New York in 2013, filed a challenge in the city's Court of Final Appeal that Hong Kong's laws violate the constitutional right to equality. It is a contrast to the increasingly conservative political tone in the Asian financial hub, where orders from the authoritarian Communist Party leadership in Beijing have drawn criticism from around the world that they are crushing democratic rights and free speech.