Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBTQ) people in Hong Kong (a special administrative region of China) may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents.

LGBT rights groups lobbied the Legislative Council to equalise the age of consent law, but were told by conservative lawmakers that the legal inequality was necessary to protect youth and preserve tradition.

Nonetheless, in June 2009, the Hong Kong Government extended limited recognition and protection to cohabitating same-sex couples under the Domestic Violence Ordinance.

He said "Instead of focusing on abstract and ideological debates that we can never easily come to an agreement on, let’s make small progress in tackling discrimination at the workplace, schools and public facilities".

[17] In September 2023, By a 3–2 decision, the court directed the government to establish an alternative framework for the legal recognition of same-sex relationships, with equivalent rights and obligations to marriage, within two years of the ruling.

[18] A British woman (referred to as QT) sued the Immigration Department after it declined to recognise her UK civil partnership and refused to grant her a dependant visa.

While the legal definition of marriage was not challenged in the appeal, chief judge Andrew Cheung wrote that "times have changed and an increasing number of people are no longer prepared to accept the status quo without critical thought".

The court handed down its ruling on 4 July 2018, finding in favour of the plaintiff and mandating immigration authorities to grant same-sex partners spousal visas that were previously only available only to heterosexual couples.

[24] The panel of judges, led by Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li, held that the "policy [of not granting a visa] is counterproductive and plainly not rationally connected to advancing [any] 'talent' aim" and rejected the immigration director's argument that civil union partnerships differed from marriage, saying it was based on a "shaky foundation [and]...hardly satisfactory".

The ruling was supposed to take effect on 1 September 2017 and would have offered the same-sex partners of government employees who married overseas the same benefits as heterosexual couples.

[32] The ruling became effective on 19 September 2018, when the Hong Kong government has amended its rule book to allow same-sex couples to file joint tax returns, a spokeswoman for the Inland Revenue Department confirmed the change, and said same-sex married couples could now submit joint tax assessment through the electronic filing system or in paper form.

[47] In October 2019, the Court of First Instance ruled against MK, upholding the existing marriage law and continuing to deny civil partnerships to same-sex couples.

[48] Judge Anderson Chow wrote, "The evidence before the court is not, in my view, sufficiently strong or compelling to demonstrate that the changing or contemporary social needs and circumstances in Hong Kong are such as would require the word ‘marriage’ in Basic Law Article 37 to be read as including a marriage between two persons of the same sex,"[48] and that the government had no legal obligation to provide substitute arrangements to same-sex couples, such as civil unions or civil partnerships.

In November 2018, openly gay legislator Raymond Chan Chi-chuen proposed a motion to study civil unions for same-sex couples, but this was voted down by 27 to 24.

[49] On 4 March 2020, the Hong Kong government's policy of denying legally married same-sex couples the right to apply for public housing was declared unlawful and unconstitutional by the High Court.

[54] The Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance (Chinese: 香港人權法案條例; pinyin: Xiānggǎng Rénquán Fǎ'àn Tiáolì)[a] was utilized to struck down discrimination in the age of consent in the case of Leung TC William Roy v. Secretary for Justice (2005).

However, most political parties and individual politicians have tended to avoid making public statements in favour of LGBT rights, although this has slowly begun to change.

In 2016, efforts by the Equal Opportunities Commission to prompt the government to enact anti-discrimination legislation based on sexual orientation and gender identity failed.

[59] In June 2019, Ricky Chu Man-kin, head of the Equal Opportunities Commission says he intends to add anti-discrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity to existing laws.

[62] Such change has historically required sex reassignment surgery which includes the removal of reproductive organs, effectively rendering the person sterile in exchange for legal recognition of gender identity.

[63] On 3 April, 2024, The Hong Kong government announced a policy revision, effective immediately, allowing individuals who have undergone specific gender-affirming surgeries (mastectomy for trans men; penectomy and orchiectomy for trans women), but not the full set of gender reassignment procedures (such as vaginoplasty or phalloplasty), to apply for a gender marker change on their Hong Kong ID card.

While expressing sympathy, High Court judge Mr Justice Thomas Au Hing-cheung ruled against the three applicants, Henry Tse, Q and R, who have all been legally recognised as men by the British government but are unable to get their gender changed on Hong Kong ID cards.

Although the trio, all born female, identify as men, and have had their breasts removed and undergone hormone therapy, they all still have their uterus and ovaries – which was the point of contention in their legal challenges against the city's commissioner of registration.

[72][73] The ruling was implemented in April 2024, although select surgical treatment to modify sex characteristics is still required for a change in ID marker, as well as hormonal blood tests.

[75] As of August 2012, The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau have been sponsoring a series of Public Service Announcement broadcasts through about the need for equal treatment when employing anyone who is LGBT.

In order to satisfy the means test component, the Social Welfare Department takes into account the income of family members living together irrespective of their sexual orientation.

On 10 Nov 2012, Denise Ho (何韻詩) announced her sexual orientation on stage at the "Dare to Love" event during the Hong Kong Pride Parade 2012.

There is, at present, no sound scientific and clinical evidence supporting the benefits of attempts to alter sexual orientation.In light of the absence of practice guidelines for lesbians, gays, and bisexual individuals for psychologists in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Psychological Society, as both a learned society and a professional association, formed a work group in July 2011 to tackle the problem.

The Government, at all levels, is not allowed to have any unjustified differential treatments on ground of sexual orientation as a direct result of a series of high-profile court cases.

[101] For many years, leading advocate groups such as Community Business, have worked to promote and advance the extension of non-discrimination policies in the corporate sector for LGBT minorities.