Meet The Team - Hong Kong Marriage Equality

Mission Statement

Hong Kong Marriage Equality is dedicated to advancing fair treatment for same-sex couples and eliminating discrimination against same-sex couples, and promoting diversity in society and the development of law relating to LGBT+ equality in Hong Kong.

Our Logo

The Hong Kong Marriage Equality logo features three elements and three colours. They are house, heart and equal sign, as well as blue, green and red, respectively.

The blue symbolizes the sky, the green represents a sustainable Earth and the red exemplifies love. At HKME, we endeavour to see all families and homes on this green Earth as equal under the blue sky.

Meet The Team

Detail

Gigi Chao

Co-founder

Gigi Chao

Co-founder

Gigi is a successful businesswoman and a passionate social advocate. She founded Faith in Love Foundation, a Hong Kong charity that encourages volunteerism and alleviation of poverty through scholarships, resource distribution and emotional support for marginalized youth. She is also specialist private sector adviser to the United Nations Development Programme Being LGBTI in Asia. In 2019, Gigi co-founded Hong Kong Marriage Equality, an NGO that aims to eliminate discrimination and bring equality to LGBT+ persons in Hong Kong.

As an avid aviator, she is past president of the Hong Kong Aviation Club and Honorary Specialist Flight Lieutenant of the Hong Kong Air Cadets Corp., where she flies a Robinson R44.

Detail

Jerome Yau

Co-founder

Jerome Yau

Co-founder

Jerome has garnered broad experience in the NGO sector as a communicator and strategist. A champion of equality, he is actively involved in LGBT+ rights advocacy. He was the brainchild behind policy formation at Pink Alliance, and in 2019 he co-founded Hong Kong Marriage Equality. In addition, he has served on the board of AIDS Concern since 2014.

Jerome graduated from the University of British Columbia, where he majored in history and political science. He began his career as a journalist in Canada and then moved on to become a communications professional with experience in corporate communications, content management, media relations, public affairs and external relations.

Detail

Azan Marwah

Legal Advisor

Azan Marwah

Legal Advisor

Azan is a barrister and accredited mediator in Hong Kong. His practice covers a broad spectrum of commercial matters, civil litigation, and disputes. He specializes in matters involving cross-border, public or administrative law elements before courts and in arbitral tribunals.

On LGBT+ equality and employment, he advised and appeared in judicial review proceedings relating to the right of LGBT civil servants to equality of spousal benefits. Azan is a published expert in family and child law. He also contributes to Archbold, the White Book and Chitty. He advises a number of charitable organisations.

Detail

David Ko

Director of Communications

David Ko

Director of Communications

David heads up RFI Asia, a digital marketing agency with offices in Beijing, Shanghai, Singapore, India and Hong Kong. RFI is part of the Ruder Finn family of companies.

Comprising an award-winning team of digital strategists, data analysts and content creators, RFI services include branded content creation, emerging technologies, web, social influence, crisis management, analytics, and consumer research.

Prior to Ruder Finn, David was head of WE Communications Asia, managing a network across China, Hong Kong, Singapore and India, as well as joint ventures in South Korea and Australia.

Before WE he founded Shout Communications. He has also held PR and marketing leadership positions with Cisco Systems, Redback Networks, Hill & Knowlton and Edelman Worldwide.

Detail

Celine Tan

Director of Development

Celine Tan

Director of Development

Celine is Senior Business Development Manager for Issuer Services within Securities Services at HSBC. She is senior advisor to the Pride ERG co-chairs. Celine is an innovative trailblazer apt at creating influential platforms.

She was founder and co-chair of the Goldman Sachs Singapore Pride chapter in 2010, co-chair of Credit Suisse Singapore’s Open Network from 2011 which broke ground as the first few formal presence of LGBT+ ERGs in Singapore-based companies. She was one of J.P. Morgan Hong Kong’s female rising stars in 2015. For her business achievements, she was nominated for American Chambers of Commerce in Hong Kong’s Professional of the Year award in 2017 and 2018.

Celine’s external work include fundraising for Hong Kong Marriage Equality; co-chairing the Hong Kong LGBT+ Interbank Forum from 2016-2017, which during her tenure rallied major banks and law firms to intervene in the same-sex spousal visa landmark case that was won in July 2018; founding of Lesbians in Finance in 2017; establishing Outrunners HK in 2017 as Treasurer; importing Pink Dot to Hong Kong in 2014 as fundraiser.

Detail

Paul Choi

Director of Community Engagement

Paul Choi

Director of Community Engagement

Paul is Managing Director, Head of Talent Management in The Hong Kong Exchange. He oversees the functions of Recruitment, Learning and Development, as well as leading the team of HR Business Partners.

Paul brings a wealth of experience with him, in learning and engagement, talent branding, leadership development, employee engagement, and diversity and inclusion. Prior to The Hong Kong Exchange, he was a Managing Director, Human Capital Management at Goldman Sachs, heading up their Learning and Engagement effort in Asia Pacific. Before Goldman Sachs, Paul worked for J.P. Morgan and Andersen Consulting.

Paul has a BSc degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Hong Kong and an MBA from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Instagram

✨ A heartfelt thank you to Christie’s for join

💓Thank you, Bloomberg! We are proud to have Bl

東京高等法院於10月30日裁定，日本民法等不承認同性婚姻的規定屬違憲，並違反了日本憲法保障的法律面前人人平等。東京高等法院首席法官谷口園枝表示，不承認同性婚姻的相關規定是「歧視同性伴侶」。

Tokyo High Court ruled on Oct. 30 that Japan‘s Civil Code and other provisions barring same-sex marriage are unconstitutional, as they violate the constitutional guarantee of equality before the law. Presiding Judge Sonoe Taniguchi stated that these provisions ”discriminate against same-sex partners based on their sexual orientation.“

@marriageforalljapan
#samesexmarriage #同性婚姻

[最緊要有得揀！]
常說結婚是人生大事，當然結婚與否是大家的個人選擇；
正如大家都能選擇不同形式與自己的伴侶的相處一樣。💁🏽

可惜的是不同性傾向的伴侶至今仍未有幸選擇。

#婚姻平權協會 #同性婚姻

Thailand’s Path to Marriage Equality! Join us on

［歷史一步］南韓11對同性伴侶將入禀

9月24日，泰國《王室公報》(Royal Gazette

We are excited to share that HKME has submitted ou

婚姻平權協會已就2024年施政報告提交意見書，呼籲政府把握機會，為香港建立一個涵蓋同性伴侶的婚姻制度。提交文件摘要如下：

1. 在2023年9月5日，終審法院於《岑子杰訴律政司》一案中裁定，根據《香港人權法》第14條，香港特區政府有積極義務確立替代框架，讓同性伴侶關係獲得法律承認。終審法院同時命令特區政府需在2025年10月27日之前，提供一個承認同性伴侶關係的替代框架。除重新制定一個另行方案外，更理想的做法是不再把同性伴侶排除於婚姻之外。  2. 雖然法庭認為《基本法》並未要求將同性伴侶納入婚姻之中，惟終審法院首席法官張舉能指出，「是否允許或承認同性婚姻是由政府和立法機構決定。」 
3. 目前已證有效且成本效益最高的解決方案，是將民事婚姻的定義修訂為「兩個人的合法結合，且排除其他人」。這個方案既令同性伴侶免再受歧視，對政府而言亦是簡單可行。

4. 全球已有近40個司法管轄區的婚姻制度涵蓋同性伴侶。數字更是每年遞增，其中如巴西、古巴、希臘、尼泊爾和泰國等地皆有不同傳統和宗教背景，充分證明傳統和宗教價值觀與同性婚姻並不相悖。

5. 全球主要的普通法司法管轄區已經擁抱同性婚姻。從法律角度來看，香港可以借鑑這些司法管轄區的經驗，更有效地制定涵蓋同性伴侶的婚姻制度。

6. 涵蓋同性伴侶的婚姻制度有助凝聚社會、減少歧視、改善性/別小眾的心理健康、保障家庭並鞏固婚姻制度。此外，根據2023年的一項調查，六成香港市民支持將同性伴侶納入婚姻制度中，支持度創下歷史新高。  7. 涵蓋同性伴侶的婚姻制度有助經濟發展，促進結婚旅遊、有利吸引國際人才、並為婚禮相關服務帶來新商機。

8. 創建一個非婚姻但與婚姻相近地位的過程繁瑣，且無法提供完整保障。此外，這會為伴侶、企業和社會帶來更多複雜問題。一份研究報告指出，「每遲一天完善婚姻法律，都令商界因此損失350萬美元。」

9. 涵蓋同性伴侶的婚姻制度將向世界傳達一個強而有力的訊息，表明香港是一個穩定兼且開放的城市，重視社會共融，有利提升香港的國際形象及經濟吸引力。

10. 因此，婚姻平權協會(HKME)強烈敦促政府把握機會，建立一個涵蓋同性伴侶的婚姻制度。

意見書全文另見bio🔗

#同性婚姻 #samesexmarriage #婚姻平權協會

更多..