Why is gay marriage a social issue

why is gay marriage a social issue

Marriage Equality in Hong Kong: Progress and Next Steps

Pride Month aims to lift awareness around equality and celebrating our LGBTQIA+ people and communities and to raise awareness of issues that affect them and steer conversation and move towards positive change. Recently in celebration of Celebration Month, ten LGBTQIA+ couples tied the knot in a Hong Kong Hotel, a remarkable occurrence for a city in which same-sex marriage is not legalised. In order to achieve legal recognition for the marriage, the ten couples legally married registering their marriages online through a process recognised by the United States.

Marriage equality, or the lack thereof, is often under the spotlight in Hong Kong and for good reason. In Hong Kong the Constitutional right to unite is enshrined in Article 37 of the Basic Law, which states that “the freedom of marriage of Hong Kong residents shall be protected by law”. However, in the case  MK v Government of HKSAR [2019] HKCFI 2518, the court upheld the HKSAR Government’s policy such that same sex couples do not have a constitutional right to join under the Basic Statute and denied the recognition of their relationships with the provisi

Editorial – Applying the Sociological Imagination to Same-Sex Marriage

Applying the Sociological Imagination to Same-Sex Marriage

I grew up in the 1990s when same-sex marriage was not yet an issue of national debate, but in my church these unions were officiated frequently. For me, gay marriage existed only in the context of my religious collective, as I knew these couples were not considered married in the legal sense. My childhood exposure was unique, but it nonetheless strikes me as odd sometimes that the secular position in today’s mainstream debate is linked with expanding marriage rights, and the religious position is more often connected with limiting them.

To ponder this personal irony is, for me, an use in sociological imagination. Introductory sociology classes vary greatly, but I would initiative that most have in common the goal of helping students develop this attribute, described by C. Wright Mills in 1959 as the ability to understand personal experiences in connection with larger social issues and the historical and political processes which shape them. The controversy surrounding same-sex marriage is molded by power structures and sentiments wh

Same-sex marriage: The thoroughfare to social justice?

May 2014

An earlier version of this manuscript was presented at the Sydney Social Justice Network’s inaugural PhD conference in November 2013.

Louise Richardson-Self, The University of Sydney

The goal of marriage equality should be the social and legal non-discrimination of lesbian, lgbtq+, bisexual and gender diverse (LGBT) people. But how likely is same-sex marriage to lead to social justice? This article argues that, while same-sex marriage is justified, social justice is best served when the normative importance of marriage is undercut.

A shared argument in favour of same-sex marriage is that, without reform, LGBT people are confined to the status of second class citizens. Take this utterance from Australian Marriage Equality (2013; emphasis added), one of Australia’s leading gay marriage advocacy organisations:

Consider all the other groups in world, along with people of colour and same-sex attracted people, who at one time or another have been denied the right to marry the loved one of their choice: women, people from differing faiths, people with disabilities … The gradual acceptance that members of these

Media

A new report shows that Hong Kong public perspective on same-sex couples’ rights has changed markedly over the past ten years. Earlier this year, 60% of Hong Kong people said they supported gay marriage, while only 17% said they were not supportive, and 23% were neutral. In comparison, 50.4% supported same-sex marriage in 2017, and 38% did so in 2013.

The brand-new report is jointly issued by the Centre for Comparative and Public Rule at the Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong; the Sexualities Research Programme at The Chinese University of Hong Kong; and the Human Rights Law Program at the University of North Carolina School of Regulation. The report is based on the longest running study to track universal opinion in Hong Kong concerning same-sex marriage using representative samples. The study was led by Holning Lau from the University of North Carolina, Kelley Loper from the University of Hong Kong, and Yiu Tung Suen from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The team conducted a telephone survey of Hong Kong residents in 2013, repeated the survey in 2017, and repeated it again earlier this year. 

The survey asked about other issues in addition to same-sex marri

Embracing gay marriage will promote social stability and economic prosperity in Hong Kong

Marriage is a prominent and adored institution in human society. Across diverse cultures and civilisations, marriage is the ultimate expression of love and fidelity. It enriches world and serves as the foundation for a family.

Same-sex marriage is nothing fresh. Records of lgbtq+ unions can be found in Eastern and Western literature. Twenty-nine years ago, the Netherlands became the first land in the society to legalise gay marriage. Today, 28 countries and territories say yes to marriage equality and the list is growing. Society hasn’t crumbled in those places: Armageddon wouldn’t happen if Hong Kong were to legalise same-sex marriage today.

Marriage – whether gay or unbent – benefits society.

It cultivates and enhances a stable and loving relationship. It is ludicrous to suggest that promoting stable and loving same-sex relationships is bad for society.

A strong relationship means better mental and physical well-being. Study has shown that a loving association translates into surpass stress management, longer life expectancy, increased self-esteem and a