Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (LegCo) has rejected a bill seeking to provide limited rights to same-sex couples.

The unicameral body voted 71 to 14 against granting same-sex partners who married or entered into civil unions abroad the ability to make medical decisions and after-death arrangements.

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The Registration of Same-sex Partnerships Bill does not acknowledge any parental rights or public welfare benefits. Still, lawmakers opposed to it argued it would essentially legalize marriage equality, the Hong Kong Free Press reported, with Legislator Maggie Chan declaring it would rock “the foundation of the monogamous and heterosexual marriage system in Hong Kong.”

Junius Ho said the bill would “plunge an entire society into turmoil” and make it too hard for same-sex families to celebrate Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. “We already have a lot of problems on our plate today,” Ho said.

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The few lawmakers who supported the bill expressed the added challenges same-sex couples face.

“If one partner needs to be admitted to a hospital because they are ill or have had an accident, their partner – if they are not a legal family relative – cannot visit them or make medical decisions… even though they have been together for many years, and rely on each other,” said Eunice Yung, “because of their identities under the law, they cannot stay by the bedside and be with [them] in their final moments.”

Yung also pointed out that the rights the bill would grant are extremely limited and are not akin to legalizing same-sex marriage.

Tony Tse added that the legislation “reflects respect and acceptance of the rule of law, human rights and diversity in society.”

The proposed legislation is the result of a 2023 decision by Hong Kong’s top court, which ruled against same-sex marriage but gave the government two years to develop a plan “for access to an alternative legal framework in order to meet basic social requirements.”

Now, lawmakers are running up against that two-year deadline, which arrives on October 27.

LegCo’s rejection of the bill is particularly significant, considering there is essentially no opposition party in the body. In 2021, the Chinese government flooded LegCo with loyalist lawmakers through corrupt elections.

The same-sex partnerships bill is one of the only laws backed by the Hong Kong government that the body has opposed.

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