http://dx.doi.org/10.59704/c7fb0cf844868974 https://verfassungsblog.de/hong-kong-stk/ Rainbow in the Dark - Judicial Strategies to Defend Same-Sex Partnership Recognition in Authoritarian Hong Kong Yu, Jeremy eng 2025-09-09 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 Authoritarianism China Hong Kong LGBTQ LGBTQ+ rights Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 On 16 July, the Hong Kong government introduced the Registration of Same-sex Partnerships Bill in the Hong Kong Legislative Council. This move was mandated by two decisions of Hong Kong’s apex court in a 2023 case. The Bill grants same-sex couples who have already registered overseas the rights to have their relationships legally recognised. The decisions came as a beam of light at the grim time of Hong Kong’s authoritarian turn. They can inspire judicial strategies to navigate a liberal enclave within the authoritarian regime, and demonstrate the correlation between gender backlash and constitutional degradation.