Gay Marriage Is Still Too Controversial For HK: CE

Chief Executive Carrie Lam told a financial forum on Thursday that Hong Kong is no closer to legalising same-sex marriage, despite recent small victories for the city's LGBT community in the courts.

In an interview at the Bloomberg-organised event, Lam was reminded that a year ago she had said she understood the concerns of the business sector regarding the lack of same-sex marriage legislation and how this could harm their ability to attract talent.

The CE was asked whether 12 months on, Hong Kong is any closer to marriage equality.

"I'm afraid not. Because this remains a very controversial issue in Hong Kong," Lam replied.

But she noted that a change in immigration policy to offer dependant visas to the same-sex partners of overseas workers will help attract talent to the SAR – even though her administration had fought such a move.

"The relaxation in immigration arrangements does help, although that arose from the government losing a case in court. But in a way, that does help to address that issue of attracting overseas talent because now, under the immigration policy, we abide by this court ruling," she said.

Following the Court of Appeal ruling last summer, Lam said the change in immigration policy was not related to LGBT rights in Hong Kong, and the government stressed that the move only affects the non-local dependants of SAR residents.

The court case had been brought by a British woman whose female partner was refused a dependant visa even though the couple had entered into a civil union in the UK.