Allowing Same Sex Marriages Will Rock HK: Govt

A lawyer for the government told the High Court on Wednesday that a ruling in favour of same-sex marriage would have major social implications in Hong Kong and argued that the issue should not be decided by the courts, but left to the government and Legco.

Arguing for the government, lawyer Stewart Wong called on the court to dismiss a bid by a Hong Kong woman, who is known only as MK, to either marry her female partner, or at least enter into a civil partnership with her.

Wong said “the judge cannot shut his eyes that a ruling in favour of the plaintiff would have major social implications, and that this is a matter for the government and Legco to take up, not the court".

He said while article 37 of the Basic Law protects people's freedom to marry, it protects only heterosexual marriages. An article of the Bill of Rights states clearly that the recognised right to marry regards a union between a man and a woman.

The judge responded by saying that he has no difficulty with the grave consequences this case’s ruling may bring, and also that he has no difficulty with a higher court’s ruling that traditional marriage are those between heterosexuals.

The government lawyer also rejected a submission from his counterpart that there's an international trend of jurisdictions becoming more liberal about same-sex marriage.

Wong said there are 30 jurisdictions that have legalised gay marriage, but that is just 30 out of nearly 200 member states of the United Nations.

MK's lawyer had argued that the Basic Law stipulation on the freedom to marry should be read together with another article in the mini-constitution that states that everyone is equal before the law.