Rainbow after Storm – Statement to Respond to the Judgements of Final Court of Appeal regarding the Equal Housing and Inheritance Rights of Same-sex Couples
” Covenant of the Rainbow– Campaign Toward a Truly Inclusive Church” warmly welcomes and expresses gratitude for yesterday’s two judgments of the Court of Final Appeal affirming the equal rights of same-sex couples in public housing policies and inheritance laws. Although the Basic Law clearly states the protection for everyone’s equality, certain social and cultural traditions, especially homophobia and heterosexual hegemony regarding procreation as the only criterion for building a family, stigmatize and exclude all sexualities and relationships other than heterosexuality, and deprive sexual minorities of their equal dignity. Consequently, every single equal right of the gay/queer community can only be won back bit by bit, with sweat and blood, through a long, arduous, costly judicial review process that consumes money, human power and material resources.
“There is no fear in love.” Only in love can we eliminate prejudice, transcend differences, and see each other’s common human needs and dignity!
In the belief of resurrection in our religious tradition, marriage or family relationships are not of absolute value. When people are resurrected, there will be no more marriages. All people will live in communion. The diversity of human beings in this world is to reflect God’s plentiful and beautiful grace and appearances. The uniqueness of each life, in mutual review and mutual learning, mutual love and mutual help, lives out the communion of God and human, and the communion of the whole world and creation. When the Lord Jesus rhetorically questioned who his brothers and sisters were, he pointed out that those who abide to God’s will are his brothers and sisters. The Lord Jesus did not make the importance of blood relationships absolute, but, instead, God’s desire for people to love and help each other and fulfill God’s righteousness as an indispensable core value for building a family!
Our gratitude to our dear friends and comrades, Edgar Hon-Lam Ng and Henry Yik-Ho Li, as well as all those who dedicate for the equal rights of sexual minorities, in their pursuit of equal rights, promote the rights and obligations of mutual love and mutual care of sexual minorities, thereby cultivating a loving and righteous family and even extending this caring and just love to the next generation of society so as to offer the world a colorful rainbow.
May God’s rainbow covenant with humankind will uplift all human beings as precious as in God’s eyes, will eliminate prejudice, fear and sin in the society, , and will let us see the rainbow! May the society of Hong Kong become a home full of loving care and justice in the protection of the equal dignity of sexual minorities! May sexual minorities no longer need to go through judicial review or tremendous stress to claim their equal rights!
Convener: Rev. Grace Bok
November 27, 2024
Covenant of the Rainbow– Campaign Toward a Truly Inclusive Churchhttps://www.rainbowcovenant.com.hk