Changing Opinion

A new report shows that Hong Kong public opinion on same-sex couples’ rights has changed markedly over the past ten years. Earlier this year, 60% of Hong Kong people said they supported same-sex 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 new report is jointly issued by the Centre for Comparative and Public Law 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 Law. The report is based on the longest running study to track public opinion in Hong Kong concerning same-sex marriage using representative samples.

The survey asked about other issues in addition to same-sex marriage. It found growth in support for gay men and lesbians and their rights across various domains. For example, 71% of people in 2023 said that Hong Kong should have a law to protect against sexual orientation discrimination, compared with 69% in 2017 and 58% in 2013. A remarkably small percentage of people in 2023—only 6%—disagreed with having such legislation.

Holning Lau, Willie Person Mangum Distinguished Professor of Law at UNC School of Law, noted the legal and social backdrop to the survey.

“A lot has changed over the past ten years,” he said. “Hong Kong courts have made headlines with rulings that protect same-sex couples. The list of jurisdictions around the world that have legalised same-sex marriage has grown rapidly. Representation of lesbians and gay men in local and global media has also grown. These are some of the factors that formed the backdrop to the shifts in public opinion that we found in our research.”

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