Central China court dismisses same-sex marriage lawsuit

A gay couple's attempt to seek their claimed right to marriage, despite same-sex marriage being illegal, was rejected Wednesday by a court in central China's Hunan Province.

Sun Wenlin and his partner Hu Mingliang applied to register their marriage on June 23, 2015, in Furong District, Changsha, capital of the province. They had their request refused by the civil affairs bureau on the grounds of the Marriage Law, the court said.

Sun and Hu argued that the law did not explicitly stipulate that same-sex marriage was banned. Therefore, they filed a lawsuit against the bureau and asked the court to order the bureau to register their marriage.

The court on Wednesday rejected the suit saying subjects wanting to register a marriage should be a man and a woman according to the Marriage Law.

The trial was open to the public and more than 100 people were in the court room.