The invention of tradition: Same-sex marriage and its discontents in Hong Kong

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 539-562
Author(s):  
Marco Wan
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Civil Servant ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Tax Assessment ◽  
Traditional Marriage ◽  
The Government

Abstract In Leung Chun Kwong v. Secretary for the Civil Service, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal held that the government unlawfully discriminated against a gay civil servant by refusing to recognize his same-sex marriage—entered into abroad—when considering the granting of local spousal benefits and joint tax assessment. The year before, in QT v. Director of Immigration, the court had ruled against the government for denying the partner of a British lesbian a dependant visa on the basis of her sexual orientation. QT and Leung Chun Kwong are landmarks in the rapidly evolving jurisprudence on same-sex marriage in the territory. This article presents an analysis of the Hong Kong cases relating to gay rights and same-sex marriage. It contends that, even though the need to protect traditional marriage is cited as a reason against marriage equality in many jurisdictions, the claim is particularly problematic in Hong Kong, given the city’s unique marriage history. It draws on the historian Eric Hobsbawm’s notion of “the invention of tradition” to argue that the rhetoric of traditional marriage conjures up an imagined past that displaces a vast and varied set of long-standing marital practices. By exploring government reports and records pertaining to Chinese marriages in colonial Hong Kong, this article then examines these forgotten traditions and demonstrates their significance for understanding the marriage equality debate in the territory in our own time.

The Early 2000s

2021 ◽  
pp. 131-144
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
Court Decision ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
State Laws ◽  
State Supreme Court ◽  
The U.S

Chapter 9 tells the story of Lawrence v. Texas, the 2003 Supreme Court decision that finally struck down the remaining state laws that criminalized sodomy. In 2004 Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to have marriage equality, following the state supreme court decision in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health. Opponents of gay rights fought furiously to overturn marriage equality in Massachusetts, but once straight people saw that marriage equality cost them nothing, the opposition faded away. Gay rights groups in Massachusetts prevailed despite having many institutional disadvantages. In California in 2008, Proposition 8 was passed by voters to reintroduce a same-sex marriage ban.

Social Media and Marriage Equality in Australia: The Media Roles in the Public Sphere and the Agenda-Setting

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Yuhanyin Ma
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Public Sphere ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Public Sphere

<p align="justify">Marriage equality or the equal status of same-sex marriage has undergone a rather tough road in Australia, involving diverging opinions in parties at the state and federal levels and constitutional amendments. It appears that people in power set the agenda on the legalization of same-sex marriage. However, it cannot be denied that social media played an almost decisive role in this process because it enabled the gathering of massive public opinion to pressure the government to make changes. To be specific, social media or social networking sites offered platforms for people concerned to share reports about the progress of foreign countries in legalizing same-sex marriage, to express their opinions and to launch campaigns in support of their beliefs. This essay explores the role that social media played in the legalization of marriage equality movement in Australia from the perspectives of the public sphere theory and the agenda-setting theory.</p>

The Courts Begin to Appreciate Gay Rights: Romer and Baehr, 1996

2021 ◽  
pp. 86-101
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Supreme Court ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Supreme Court Decision ◽  
State Court ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
The Supreme Court ◽  
First Time ◽  
The U.S

Chapter 6 describes two important breakthroughs in the courts for gay rights. In 1996 the U.S. Supreme Court decided Romer v. Evans in favor of gay plaintiffs from Colorado who had had their rights reduced by a voter referendum. The Supreme Court upheld state court rulings which had overturned the referendum. The Romer decision, written by Anthony Kennedy, was the first Supreme Court decision to affirmatively defend the rights of gay people. In the fall of 1996 in Hawaii a same-sex marriage trial, Baehr v. Miike, showed for the first time that the opponents of marriage equality had no scientific or empirical basis for preventing same-sex marriages from being recognized. The marriage plaintiffs won in court, but the voters of Hawaii reinstated the same-sex marriage ban. Hawaii did not become a marriage equality state until 2013.

scholarly journals ‘One can hardly call them homophobic’: Denials of antigay prejudice within the same-sex marriage debate

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Jowett
Keyword(s):  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
Same Sex Couples ◽  
The Government ◽  
British Press ◽  
Racist Discourse ◽  
Antigay Prejudice

The United Kingdom’s Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act (2013) was framed by the Government as an equality measure and, as such, those who opposed the legislation were likely to be sensitive to possible accusations of prejudice. This article examines opposition to marriage equality within the British press and explores how denials of homophobia were made. Opponents to same-sex marriage attended to commonsense notions of ‘homophobes’, either by aligning their views with categories of persons not typically considered homophobic or by distancing their views from a homophobic other. Opponents also offered a counter-accusation that it was liberal supporters of same-sex marriage who were intolerant. Parallels are drawn with discursive literature on racist discourse and it appears that despite social scientists’ attempts to expand the concept of antigay prejudice, homophobia is commonly referred to in terms of irrational bigoted individuals.

Same-Sex Marriage in Japan: Prospects for Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Frank K. UPHAM
Keyword(s):  
Marriage Equality ◽  
District Courts ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
National Legislation ◽  
Global Trend ◽  
Relative Tolerance ◽  
History Of ◽  
Valentine's Day ◽  
The Government

Abstract This article examines why Japan is a prominent exception to the global trend towards recognition of same-sex marriage and evaluates the prospects for change. It does so through an analysis of five cases brought on Valentine's Day – 14 February 2019. Unlike many jurisdictions where religious opposition to same-sex relationships has been intense and sometimes violent, Japan has a history of relative tolerance towards LGBT individuals. Nonetheless, despite the creation of civil partnership ordinances in some localities, national legislation seems unlikely, and a group of lawyers filed suit in five district courts across Japan. The litigation was brought under the State Redress Act and is based on tort rather than directly on constitutional doctrine. It claims that marriage equality is constitutionally required and that the failure of the government to recognize same-sex marriage constitutes a tort that has harmed the LGB plaintiffs and entitles them to compensation. This article analyzes the nature of the cause of action founded on the State Redress Act, and examines the arguments, which are based more on the plaintiffs’ suffering than on their desire for self-expression. Subsequently, it presents and evaluates the possible outcomes

Marriage Equality

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Dombrink
Keyword(s):  
Gay Rights ◽  
Legal Reform ◽  
Center Of Gravity ◽  
Gay Marriage ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Significant Issue ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Same Sex Marriage ◽  
The Social

This chapter traces the steady and dramatic changes in American attitudes toward, and legal reform of, marriage equality. This is analyzed as an example of the “de-wedging” of one of the key “wedge issues” utilized by the social and religious conservatives from 1980 onward, that of gay rights generally and same-sex marriage specifically. It uses as a touchpoint one analyst’s observation: “It’s hard to imagine a significant issue in which the center of gravity is shifting faster than gay marriage in this country.”

The Rainbow after the Storm

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Rosenfeld
Keyword(s):  
Coming Out ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Gay Rights ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Marriage Equality ◽  
Same Sex ◽  
Gay Couples ◽  
Gays And Lesbians ◽  
The U.S

The Rainbow after the Storm tells the story of the rapid liberalization of attitudes toward gay rights that made same-sex marriage the law of the U.S. sooner than almost anyone thought was possible. The book explains how and why public opinion toward gay rights liberalized so much, while most other public attitudes have remained relatively stable. The book explores the roles of a variety of actors in this drama. Social science research helped to shift elite opinion in ways that reduced the persecution of gays and lesbians. Gays and lesbians by the hundreds of thousands responded to a less repressive environment by coming out of the closet. Straight people started to know the gay and lesbian people in their lives, and their view of gay rights shifted accordingly. Same-sex couples embarked on years-long legal struggles to try to force states to recognize their marriages. In courtrooms across the U.S. social scientists behind a new consensus about the normalcy of gay couples and the health of their children won victories over fringe scholars promoting discredited antigay views. In a few short years marriage equality, which had once seemed totally unrealistic, became realistic. And then almost as soon as it was realistic, marriage equality became a reality.

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