Activist detained in Hong Kong begins final appeal for recognition of his overseas same-sex marriage

An activist detained in Hong Kong has begun his final appeal seeking recognition for his same-sex marriage registered overseas, in a landmark case for the city’s LGBTQ+ community

An activist detained in Hong Kong began his final appeal Wednesday seeking recognition for his same-sex marriage registered overseas, in a landmark case for the city's LGBTQ+ community.

Jimmy Sham, a prominent pro-democracy activist during the 2019 protests that roiled Hong Kong, first asked for a judicial review five years ago seeking a declaration that the city's laws, which do not recognize foreign same-sex marriage, violate his constitutional right to equality. But the lower courts dismissed his legal challenge and a subsequent appeal over the case.

Sham is now in custody after being charged with subversion over an unofficial primary election under a tough national security law enacted following the protests. Many other leading Hong Kong activists were also arrested or silenced by the law imposed by Beijing on the former British colony.

The upcoming judgment by the city's top court in his marriage case will have strong implications for the lives of the LGBTQ+ community and the financial hub's reputation as an inclusive place to live and work.

Currently, the city only recognizes same-sex marriage for certain purposes such as taxation, civil service benefits and dependent visas. Many of the government's concessions were won through legal challenges over the last few years.

On Wednesday, Sham appeared spirited inside the courtroom.

His lawyer Karon Monaghan argued that the absence of same-sex marriage in Hong Kong sent a message that it is less worthy of recognition than heterosexual marriage.

Sham and his husband married in New York in 2013. They wished to marry in Hong Kong but it was not allowed under the law, according to previous judgments.

The ruling in 2020 said his marriage lacks essential validity because the city’s law does not permit marriage between same-sex persons. It added that Sham's attempt to achieve complete parity of recognition between foreign same-sex marriages and foreign heterosexual marriages is “too ambitious.”

Sham's appeal over the case was also dismissed last August.

Sham is the former convenor of Civil Human Rights Front, which was best known for organizing the annual march on the anniversary of Hong Kong's handover to Chinese rule on July 1, 1997, for years. The group also organized some of the bigger political protests that roiled the city in 2019.

The front was disbanded in 2021 as it reportedly faces a police investigation for possible violation of the security law.