Community Hero
Honouree
The Community Hero is supported by our Community Partner ILGA Asia
Henry Li
Hong Kong
I was born and raised in Hong Kong. I met Edgar in 2012. We got married in London in 2017, because same-sex marriage was (and remains) unavailable to same-sex couples in our home country. Ever since we got married, we had been fighting every day to maintain that we are, in fact, a family. The Hong Kong Government told us otherwise. The Hong Kong Housing Authority told us otherwise. Because of that, we had since been living together unlawfully in our own home.
In 2020, Edgar passed away. That’s changed my life forever. Losing Edgar has been incredibly difficult. Our lives were intertwined for so long – it’s almost odd to be on my own. Sobbing in public became the new normal. For the first few months, it was hard even just walking down that street where we bought the first cat tree for our rescue cats, Kit Kat and Oreo. Now I think about it, it still is. It is in this context I have continued to fight for the last 4 years to maintain – that Edgar was my husband. I fought that at the morgue. I fought that in courts.
Brief information about your work
I am an active LGBT+ rights advocate at the workplace. I serve as an executive committee member of HKGALA, Hong Kong LGBT+ Attorneys Network, and Pride employee network committee member of both Eversheds Sutherland and HKEX. In response to the Hong Kong Government’s public consultation, I formed an interdisciplinary working group on gender recognition (with trans rights advocates, doctors, psychologists, gender studies professors, etc), and published an educational outreach bilingual pamphlet, an educational video and online and paper petitions to support gender recognition legislation without surgical requirement. For this transgender work, I was awarded 2018 LGBT+ Inclusion Champion Award presented by Community Business (a NGO) sponsored by Morgan Stanley: https://www.communitybusiness.org/programmes-campaigns/2018-hong-kong-lgbt-inclusion-award-winners
Apart from the above, due to the discrimination we faced, my late husband and I have filed three judicial reviews to challenge the unequal treatment of same-sex married couples by the Hong Kong Government in terms of public housing, inheritance and after-death arrangements.
After the court papers were filed, the Government conceded that same-sex married couples should be treated equally in the context of after-death arrangements:
Gay widower launches legal bid against Hong Kong gov’t for preventing him from identifying late husband’s body
In terms of public housing rights and inheritance rights, Edgar and I have won the challenges both at the first instance court and the appeals court. The Government appealed to the highest court in Hong Kong. These final appeal hearings were conducted in October 2024. We are currently waiting for the judgments to be handed down within the next few months:
https://hongkongfp.com/2024/10/05/govt-argues-hong-kong-public-housing-for-traditional-families-as-fight-for-same-sex-married-couples-rights-reaches-top-court/
Hong Kong court rules in favour of same-sex couples’ equal inheritance rights following gov’t appeal
What one achievement you’ve accomplished that you’re most proud of? Why?
I am proud (and relieved) that I managed to carry on the legal challenges filed by my husband, after his death. Edgar filed these challenges in order to protect me, so that if I were ever to lose him, I wouldn’t also lose our home. It was an act of love. I am proud that despite it all, I managed to see through what Edgar set out to do. It is for him, for us and for the LGBT community at large in Hong Kong.
What do you find most challenging about your work? Why?
Talking about Edgar is difficult. Watching his recordings is difficult. Both I do as part of advocacy work. For most, grieving is a very private process. I wasn’t given the luxury to grieve Edgar privately. But at the same time, I know it matters to Edgar that his work and his stories are being heard and recognised.
What do you do to recharge your battery?
I’m incredibly lucky to have a very loving and supportive family and friends. I recharge by going back to them, whenever I need emotional support. I could not have done any of the above without their support. I have picked up meditation to ease my anxiety issues. Weight training also turns out to be an incredibly helpful breathing exercise – a lot of focus is on breathing properly.
What is your vulnerability and how do you overcome it?
Edgar was the natural advocate and great public speaker. He carried himself with confidence and spoke with clarity and conviction. I am more of an introvert to the point of being shy in front of cameras. I don’t think I have fully overcome it – but I learn to talk to a friendly face in a crowd or behind a camera, so that I could be less self-conscious about everything. I also have learnt to accept it is okay to just cry.
You have been nominated for the Community Hero category.
What was your reaction and please, tell us why?
I was surprised and flattered. I am just an ordinary person trying to live an honest, quiet life. It was pure circumstances that brought Edgar and me to where we are today. Other than the fact that we are gay, we are not so different from any other regular married couples in Hong Kong. Never have I thought that one day we would be the plaintiffs in landmark cases for LGBT rights, let alone being considered for the Community Hero category. We were just trying our best to stay under the same roof as a family.
What is a warm/hopeful message that you would like to share with the communities in the Asia Pacific?
I would love to share a video my friend and I made about Edgar
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELucFkND4nQ
May Edgar’s stories and spirit carry on, always.
