Difficulties members of the LGBTIQ+ community face in the context of family law legislation and practice in Hong Kong

On Wednesday night, members of the Family Department had the pleasure of attending a talk by Tim Parker and Geoffrey Yeung of Denis Chang’s Chambers, hosted by the Hong Kong Family Law Association. The talk addressed some of the significant difficulties members of the LGBTIQ+ community face in the context of family law legislation and practice in Hong Kong. Geoffrey spoke to issues faced by those who are transgender and intersex, particularly the still open questions concerning formal recognition of gender identity in Hong Kong and different approaches to such recognition in other jurisdictions. Tim later addressed challenges same-sex couples in Hong Kong continue to face due to the difference in treatment afforded to them in adoption and surrogacy contexts, as compared with opposite-sex couples and, in the case of adoption, single men and women. Tim gave much food for thought with his consideration of the constitutionality of such differences in treatment, in light of the detrimental impact they may have on both parents (or prospective parents) and children. We thank both Tim and Geoffrey for sharing their insights.