Same sex unions take a limited step forward in Hong Kong

 The Washington Post has the story:

Hong Kong court hands rare victory to advocates of same-sex unions, By Lily Kuo and Vic Chiang September 5, 2023 

"In a partial victory for Hong Kong’s LGBTQ community, the city’s top court on Tuesday ordered the government to give same-sex couples some form of legal recognition.

"The surprise ruling, which stopped short of meeting demands for full marriage equality, stated that the Hong Kong government had violated gay citizens’ constitutional rights by not granting them an “alternative framework” such as civil unions or civil partnerships.

"The majority verdict decided by five judges on the Court of Final Appeal gave Hong Kong two years to create a new framework that would confer “legal recognition” on same-sex relationships “in order to provide them with a sense of legitimacy, dispelling any sense that they belong to an inferior class of persons whose relationship is undeserving of recognition.”

...

“We are not addressing the question of whether in terms of social policy for Hong Kong same sex unions should be recognized with rights and obligations similar to those presently enjoyed by heterosexual couples. That is a question for the government and the legislature; and social policy is not a question for the court to decide,” wrote Justice Johnson Lam."