Jimmy Sham
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit ( zh, t=岑子杰, j=sam4 zi2 git6; born 29 June 1987) is a Hong Kong pro-democracy and LGBT rights activist. He served as a convener for the pro-democracy organisation
Civil Human Rights Front The Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) was an organisation that focused on the issues of Hong Kong politics and livelihood, affiliated with almost all pan-democratic camps in Hong Kong. It was founded on 13 September 2002 and disbanded on 15 Aug ...
(CHRF) until October 2020 and serves as a secretary for the LGBT rights organisation Rainbow of Hong Kong. He is a longtime member of the
League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parlia ...
. In 2019 he was elected to the
Sha Tin District Council The Sha Tin District Council is the district council of Hong Kong, district council for the Sha Tin District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Sha Tin District Council currently consists of 42 members, of which the district is d ...
by residents of Lek Yuen constituency, but he resigned from this position in July 2021 amidst a government crackdown on pro-democracy councillors.


Biography

Sham grew up in a single-parent family and completed
secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...
in 2006. He worked as a
legislative assistant A legislative assistant (LA), legislative analyst, legislative research assistant, or legislative associate, is a person who works for a legislator as a legislative staffer in a semi-political partisan capacity, in a non-partisan capacity at a th ...
for a period after graduating from secondary school. He later joined Rainbow Action, a member organisation of Civil Human Rights Front that advocates for LGBT rights. He started assisting with CHRF's work in 2008, hosting events and managing affairs with human and police rights. He occupied
Connaught Road Central Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...
along with other protesters after the 1July march in 2011, after which he was arrested for unlawful assembly. He participated in the
2014 Hong Kong protests A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after th ...
and became CHRF's convener in 2015, for one year. After Sham left the post of convener, he studied at the
Hong Kong Community College Hong Kong Community College (HKCC) is an affiliated and financially self-supporting college of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, a public research university in Hong Kong. Initially located on the PolyU campus, HKCC now has two campuses se ...
, graduating in October 2018 with a higher diploma in social work. He immediately rejoined CHRF, again as convener. This came at a difficult time for the organisation, as it had only in funding with a monthly expenditure of HK$20,000. He is a longtime member of the
League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parlia ...
and joined its executive committee in 2018. He first joined the party because it was the first in Hong Kong to include LGBT issues in its platform. In 2020, ''
Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine named Sham one of "20 people to watch", the only Hong Kong citizen on the list. He responded, "Hong Kong people deserve more attention from the outside world than themselves."


Sexuality

Sham is
openly gay Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
; he married his husband, a
flight attendant A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...
, in New York in 2014. He is an active campaigner for
LGBT rights in Hong Kong 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. History After the 1967 decriminalisation of homosexuality in the ...
. As a secretary, he manages daily operations for Rainbow of Hong Kong, helps organise annual LGBT rallies and hosted an LGBT programme on
Citizens' Radio Citizens' Radio was a radio station in Hong Kong established by pro-democracy camp figure Tsang Kin Shing. The station ran as a non-profit organization. It started trial broadcasting on 3 October 2005 on 102.8 MHz FM. The regular broadca ...
. Sham was also the spokesperson for the 2018
Hong Kong Pride Parade The Hong Kong Pride Parade () is an annual march in Hong Kong in support of LGBT rights. Homosexuality has been legal in Hong Kong since 1991 but there is no legal recognition of any same-sex relationships and limited protection against discrimin ...
, which drew 12,000 people, a record high. Sham has resorted to the courts to have his New York marriage recognised in Hong Kong. In September 2020, he lost his first judicial review, and lost the case before the Court of Appeal in August 2022, while awaiting trial over the mass national security law case. On 11 November 2022, Sham's lawyer Hectar Pun resorted to the High Court as a last resort for his petition to be heard, after a panel of three judges determined that the matter was of "great general public importance". In September 2023, the Court of Final Appeal rejected Sham's appeal for recognition of same-sex marriage. However, the Court ordered the government to work on a framework of recognition within two years from the moment of the appeal.


2019–2020 Hong Kong protests

As convener of Civil Human Rights Front, Sham helped organise the first and second protest marches against the
2019 Hong Kong extradition bill The Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation (Amendment) Bill 2019 () was a proposed bill regarding extradition to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance () in relation to special surrender arrangements a ...
on 31 March and 28 April, and helped organise the protest march against the bill on 9June. The number of participants at this march exceeded his expectations: CHRF set a target of 300,000 protesters, and he estimated that more than a million people participated. On 13 June, after the Hong Kong government's announcement of its intention to restart debating the bill, as well as the clashes at the
Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...
(LegCo), Sham decided to organize another protest march on 16 June, which meant they had only four days to advertise it. He estimated that there were close to two million participants at the 16 June protest. Sham noted that CHRF is unable to mobilise large numbers of people to participate in protests, and that the high number of protesters in the 2019 protests was caused by public awareness and poor governance by the Hong Kong government. He described CHRF's role in the protests as providing a platform for citizens to express their views. He said that CHRF estimates participants at protests by counting the participants from footbridges. Sham organised the 1July march in 2019, demanding a full retraction of the amendment bill and for Chief Executive
Carrie Lam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the fourth Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022, after serving as Chief Secretary for Administration for five years. After g ...
to step down.


2019 District Council elections

Sham was elected to the
Sha Tin District Council The Sha Tin District Council is the district council of Hong Kong, district council for the Sha Tin District in Hong Kong. It is one of 18 such councils. The Sha Tin District Council currently consists of 42 members, of which the district is d ...
during the 2019 District Council elections. He represents the pro-democracy
League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parlia ...
in Lek Yuen constituency. His campaign activities were temporarily disrupted by the October 2019 attack, but he returned to the streets to campaign on crutches. Sham was elected on 24 November 2019, unseating incumbent Michael Wong Yue-hon of the pro-Beijing
Civil Force Civil Force () is a pro-Beijing, district-based political party in Hong Kong. Since 2014, the Civil Force has entered an alliance with the New People's Party of Regina Ip. Headed by chairman Pun Kwok-shan, it has its stronghold in the Sha Tin ...
.


2020 pro-democracy primaries

Sham ran as a candidate of the
League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parlia ...
for Kowloon West during the pro-democracy primaries of July 2020 and won the election with 24,144 votes, 31.82% of the electorate.


2020 legislative council election

On 30 July 2020, 12 candidates were disqualified by the Hong Kong government, and it was also announced that the rest of the candidacies were still being reviewed, with some saying that most of the pro-democracy camp were to be disqualified. On 31 July, Chief Executive
Carrie Lam Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor ( Cheng; ; born 13 May 1957) is a retired Hong Kong politician who served as the fourth Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022, after serving as Chief Secretary for Administration for five years. After g ...
announced that due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong The COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong is part of the COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Hong Kong on ...
, the elections would be postponed for a year without setting a new date. On 3 August,
HK01 HK01 () is a Hong Kong–based news outlet launched by Yu Pun-hoi, a former chairman of the ''Ming Pao''. Operated as both a physical newspaper and a news website, it was established in June 2015 and managed by HK01 Company Limited. The website ...
reported that Sham and other four others had also been disqualified. Sham said that he was not afraid of disqualification and that he would continue his protests against the national security law. He also received a letter from the electoral commission telling him his nomination was being reviewed.


2021 National Security Law arrest

On 6 January 2021, Sham was arrested along with more than 50 other people accused of violating the national security law. They were all accused of trying to "overthrow" the government and "subversion." Sham was released on bail on 7 January. On 28 February 2021, Sham, along with 46 others, was formally charged with "subversion" and arrested again. On 4 March and 12 March, he was denied bail due to the concerns of the courts in regards with the national security law. On 29 March 2021, the High Court adjourned his third bail application until 12 April after one-hour deliberation. On 12 April 2021, the High Court denied him bail and ordered him to remain in custody. On 13 May 2021, High Court judge Esther Toh upheld her decision to deny bail to Sham arguing that he was a "determined and resolute young man" who could reoffend if granted bail. On 2 September 2022, Sham pleaded guilty to violating the national security law. On 19 November 2024, Sham was sentenced to four years and three months in prison. He was released on 30 May 2025.


Resignation as District Councillor

On 8 July 2021, more than 76 district councilors resigned their positions, including Sham, citing imminent removal from office under a massive disqualification from the government based on violation of both the Basic Law and the national security law. The
League of Social Democrats The League of Social Democrats (LSD) is a social democratic party in Hong Kong. Chaired by Chan Po-ying, wife of Leung Kwok-hung, it positions itself as the radical wing of the pro-democracy camp and stresses on "street actions" and "parlia ...
announced his resignation via a press release.


Harassment and physical attacks


Attack over sexual orientation

On 7 July 2019, DAB politician and LegCo member Ann Chiang uploaded a video to
Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
slamming Sham for being gay and alleging that he intentionally concealed his sexuality to gain status with the
pan-democracy camp The pro-democracy camp, also known as the pan-democracy camp, is a political alignment in Hong Kong that supports increased democracy, namely the universal suffrage of the Chief Executive and the Legislative Council as given by the Basic La ...
in Hong Kong. The video showed him in drag at an event, with captions "Deliberately concealing that, for power, money or fame?" and "Corrupting social morals, just disgusting." Sham is openly gay and participates in LGBT rights organisations. He responded on social media, criticizing Chiang's attacks and encouraging those remaining in the closet not to feel ashamed of their sexuality. The video was instantly criticized by gay groups and was removed by Facebook for violating its community standards. On 19 July, Sham and LegCo member
Raymond Chan Chi-chuen Raymond Chan Chi-chuen (born 16 April 1972 in Hong Kong, ), also called Slow Beat () in his radio career, is a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong (representing the New Territories East constituency), presenter and former ch ...
protested in front of the Equal Opportunities Commission together with a number of LGBT rights organisations. The pair submitted a petition with more than 2,000 signatures demanding that EOC chairman Ricky Chu Man-kin condemn Chiang's statements. Chiang later accused Sham of not being "ready" if he considered her comments to be an attack. Sham was one of the coordinators of a demonstration on 8 December 2019. His attempts to communicate with the Hong Kong Police Force about the demonstration were rejected by the police, who called him a "damn gay man" (死基佬).


Attacks during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests

On 29 August, around 30 people gathered near Rainbow of Hong Kong's headquarters in
Jordan, Hong Kong Jordan () is an area in Hong Kong, located on Kowloon Peninsula. It is named after a Jordan Road, Hong Kong, road of the same name in the district. The area is bordered by King's Park, Hong Kong, King's Park to the east, Tsim Sha Tsui to the s ...
at 11 a.m. for a "Denounce Civil Human Rights Front" demonstration. Sham said the organisers wrongly listed CHRF's address as Rainbow of Hong Kong, and arrived at the venue 10 minutes earlier to talk to the protesters. Some protesters said they were there to oppose CHRF and scolded Sham using foul language. They also pushed apart and scolded reporters there, saying reporters at the scene were "fake". Some supporters of Sham were at the scene as well. During the chaos, several plainclothes law enforcement officers who attempted to separate the two groups of people were also scolded. A group of protesters continued to chant slogans after Sham left the premises, and stopped only after passersby shouted at them to leave. Sham later explained that Rainbow of Hong Kong was not a member organisation of CHRF, and he thought it was funny that protesters insisted on staying there. At 12:50 p.m. that day, Sham and his friend Lo were assaulted by two masked men in a restaurant in Jordan with a
softball Softball is a Variations of baseball, variation of baseball, the difference being that it is played with a larger ball, on a smaller field, and with only underhand pitches (where the ball is released while the hand is primarily below the ball) ...
bat and an iron tube. Sham's friend was hit three times in his arm resulting in swelling, and was sent to hospital; Sham was unharmed. Two men, aged 15 and 44, were later arrested over the attack. On 16 October, while on the way to a CHRF meeting, Sham was attacked on the street with a hammer by four to five people in
Tai Kok Tsui Tai Kok Tsui is an area west of Mong Kok in Yau Tsim Mong District, Yau Tsim Mong district in the Kowloon region of Hong Kong. The mixed land use of industrial and residential is present in the old area. The Cosmopolitan Dock and oil depots we ...
,
Kowloon Kowloon () is one of the areas of Hong Kong, three areas of Hong Kong, along with Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. It is an urban area comprising the Kowloon Peninsula and New Kowloon. It has a population of 2,019,533 and a populat ...
. He was taken, bleeding heavily, to
Kwong Wah Hospital Kwong Wah Hospital is a 1,141-bed Charitable hospital in Yau Ma Tei, Hong Kong. Located on 25 Waterloo Road, Kwong Wah Hospital is the main district general hospital was founded by the Tung Wah Group in 1911, and managed by the Hospital A ...
. On 27 July 2020, the trial for the first attack began. The 15-year-old boy charged with attacking Sham and his friend in the first incident told the court that he was given HK$3,000 to attack him while the other defendant, a 29-year-old man, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to cause bodily harm. On 29 July, the 29-year-old said in court that a HK$2 million bounty was offered to "cripple" Sham saying that "some Hongkonger in Tuen Mun wanted to cripple his leg." On 21 September, the 29-year-old was sentenced to 46 months in prison and the teenager to a training centre.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sham, Jimmy Tsz-Kit 1987 births Living people Gay politicians Hong Kong democracy activists Hong Kong LGBTQ politicians Hong Kong LGBTQ rights activists League of Social Democrats politicians District councillors of Sha Tin District Prisoners and detainees of Hong Kong Political prisoners held by Hong Kong People convicted under the Hong Kong national security law