10/23/2014
Transgender marriage law vetoed by Legco | South China Morning Post
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THU Oct 23, 2014 Updated: 9:25am
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Transgender marriage law vetoed by Legco
Voting down of revisions to allow transgender marriage in line with court ruling sees security
minister accused of failing to lobby for them
Tony Cheung and Phila Siu
PUBLISHED : Thursday, 23 October, 2014, 4:48am
UPDATED : Thursday, 23 October, 2014, 9:25am
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Hong Kong Pride Parade 2012's theme "Dare To Love" calls for equal lesbian, gay,
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Print
The security minister came under fire from lawmakers yesterday for failing to
lobby enough support before trying to push through law revisions in favour of
transgender marriage.
(http://www.scmp.com/print/news/hongkong/article/1622339/legco-vetoestransgender-marriage-law-ministeraccused-not-lobbying)
Amendments to the marriage laws that were merely straightforward changes
Email
meant to comply with a top-court ruling last year were voted down by equal
(http://www.scmp.com/printmail/news/hongnumbers of pro-establishment and pan-democratic legislators.
kong/article/1622339/legco-vetoes-
The government's Marriage (Amendment) Bill 2014 seeks to revise the transgender-marriage-law-ministeraccused-not-lobbying)
Marriage Ordinance after the Court of Final Appeal ruled in July last year
that a transgender woman, W, could marry her boyfriend as it was
unconstitutional to ban her from doing so.
Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok told lawmakers the bill was only
seeking to synchronise the ordinance with the ruling. "It does not add any
extra requirement apart from the Court of Final Appeal's judgment."
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10/23/2014
Transgender marriage law vetoed by Legco | South China Morning Post
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"We have to deal with the entire legal identity of transgender people, such as whether
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BUSINESS
they can adopt children," Labour Party lawmaker Cyd Ho said.
However, pan-democrats objected to the bill's requirement that a person
must undergo full gender reassignment surgery to be considered
transgender. W had gone through the operation before, Labour Party
lawmaker Cyd Ho Sau-lan said on the sidelines of the Legislative Council
meeting, but turning it into part of the law was another matter.
Since July, transgender people have been allowed to register to marry
legally, after the expiry of a 12-month buffer the court granted for the
government to consider amending the law. Legco has yet to approve the
revisions, though, because of filibustering before its summer recess.
The bill was finally voted on yesterday, whereupon 20 lawmakers each from
the pan-democratic and pro-establishment camps shot it down. Only 11
Beijing loyalists supported it. Ho urged the government to hold a thorough
public consultation on gender recognition before writing anything into the
city's law.
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"We have to deal with the entire legal identity of transgender people, such as
whether they can adopt children," she said.
Pay 20 yuan for a
girlfriend for a day
Ip Kwok-him, of the pro-establishment Democratic Alliance for the
Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said: "Hong Kong is a traditional
society and the marriage concept should not be extended boundlessly
[before the public was fully consulted]."
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Lai said Secretary for Justice Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung was heading a
taskforce to study gender recognition issues. "It will publish a consultation
document in about two years," he promised.
Two advocates of sexual minorities' rights said if the bill was passed, it would
be hard to make changes. Brian Leung Siu-fai, of Big Love Alliance, said:
"The clause [about sex reassignment] is seen as inhuman under UN
standards." Yeo Wai-wai, of the Women's Coalition, noted transgender
people could already get married as the government had to execute the
court ruling.
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Transgender marriage law vetoed by Legco | South China Morning Post
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