Submitted by admin on Mon, 2006-04-17 08:01. ::
HONGKONG: Hong Kong, home to hundreds of thousands of British nationals, has blockedlocal residents from entering into same-sex civil unions at the Britishconsulate, a consulate spokeswoman said on Sunday.
Hong Kong's Home AffairsBureau told the British consulate on Tuesday that the Chinese territory wouldn'tallow same-sex couples to marry on the mission's premises, Consulate-Generalspokeswoman Vanessa Gould said.
British law allows Britishnationals to enter civil unions with non-British nationals of the same gender atBritish diplomatic offices worldwide, so long as the local government doesn'tobject.
Hong Kong, a Chineseterritory ruled by Britain until 1997, is home to more than 200,000 Britishpassport holders and 3.5 million more who are eligible for the British National(Overseas) passport, a travel document that doesn't grant the right of abode.
But the Hong Kong government"does not consider it appropriate to agree to the registration of civilpartnerships of same-sex couples at the British Consulate-General Hong Kong atpresent,"the consular office said in a statement on its Web site.
The Hong Kong government madethe decision because locals are being consulted on the need for laws banningdiscrimination against gays and doesn't want to be perceived as taking sideswhile the issue is being discussed, Home Affairs Bureau spokeswoman Lily Chensaid.
So far Australia,Croatia, South Africa, Venezuela, Belarus, Israel, Switzerland, Vietnam,Colombia, Japan, Turkmenistan, Costa Rica and certain states in the US haveallowed local British diplomatic offices to conduct same-sex civil unions fortheir subjects.
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