Alfred Ip and Henry Li talk about Henry’s personal story with husband Edgar Ng while touching upon legal protections – or rather the lack of – related to inheritance and housing rights in Hong Kong for same-sex couples legally married overseas.
They delve into the hurdles and (direct and indirect) discriminatory treatment connected to the lack of recognition of same-sex relationships and marriages in Hong Kong. They also walk through the history of the legal cases brought to Court by Henry and Edgar through different levels of the justice system and the striking differences with other jurisdictions (e.g. the UK) – whereas in Hong Kong couples are not given the right to form a legally binding relationship with specific (and significant) rights and obligations – towards each other and towards society.
Henry pinpoints the difficulties they went through as a couple who decided to challenge the law and the government, initially in terms of housing rights and thereafter also in terms of inheritance rights. They go on speaking about the hurdles concerning access to justice and the related emotional as well as financial costs. The emotional challenges not only burdened the couple, but also their extended family in both a private and public way. Whilst the financial costs involved the Legal Aid Department, the couple also had to dig into their own pockets. A strong, selfless and brave character needs to be at the base of a fight for obtaining further rights for same-sex couples.
Moreover, Henry emphasizes on the burden that some heroic individuals take in initiating a judicial review for the public interest as well as for practical reasons connected to visitation rights in a hospital or other aspects of a normal and simple life that same-sex couples long to live.
Alfred adds that while many brave individuals have come forward in challenging the law and allowing some governmental policies to be changed and improved, there’s still a lot to do. One of these is the right to divorce.
