Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit ( zh, t=岑子杰; 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 (CHRF) until October 2020
and serves as a secretary for the LGBT rights organisation
Rainbow of Hong Kong
Rainbow of Hong Kong ( zh, t=香港彩虹, j=Hoeng1gong2 Coi2hung4) is a non-profit organisation advocating for LGBT rights in Hong Kong. It was founded on 1 December 1991 and registered as a charity in 2011.
History
Rainbow of Hong Kong was o ...
.
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 "parliam ...
. In 2019 he was elected to the
Sha Tin District Council 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 in 2006. He worked as a
legislative assistant A legislative assistant (LA) or legislative analyst is a person who works for a legislator as a legislative staffer, a government agency as a legislative affairs professional, or in the government relations and regulatory affairs industry by monitor ...
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 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) was established in 2001 and is a subsidiary of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. HKCC offers associate degree and higher diploma programmes spanning the domains of arts, science, social sciences, business ...
, 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 "parliam ...
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 continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...
'' 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 LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
; he married his husband, a
flight attendant
A flight attendant, also known as steward/stewardess or air host/air hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are pri ...
, in New York in 2014.
He is an active campaigner for
LGBT rights in Hong Kong
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender ( LGBT) persons 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 is a radio station in Hong Kong established by pro-democracy camp figure Tsang Kin Shing (). The station is run as a non-profit organization. It started trial broadcasting on 3 October 2005 on 102.8 MHz FM. The regular br ...
.
Sham was also the spokesperson for the 2018
Hong Kong Pride Parade, 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".
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 (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 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022. She served as Chief Secretary for Administration between 2012 and 2017 and Se ...
to step down.
2019 District Council elections

Sham was elected to the
Sha Tin District Council 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 "parliam ...
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.
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 "parliam ...
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 4th Chief Executive of Hong Kong from 2017 to 2022. She served as Chief Secretary for Administration between 2012 and 2017 and Se ...
announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong
The COVID-19 pandemic in Hong Kong is part of the 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 23 January 2020. Con ...
, the elections would be postponed for a year without setting a new date.
On 3 August, HK01 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, he was denied bail and remained in prison. On 12 March, an upper court denied him bail again, citing national security risks. On 29 March 2021, the High Court adjourned his third bail application until 12 April after one-hour deliberation. Until then, Sham would remain in custody. On 12 April 2021, the High Court denied him bail and ordered him to remain in custody. Sham faces a possible life sentence if convicted of national security offences.
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.
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 "parliam ...
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
Ann Chiang Lai-wan, SBS, JP, ( was born on 16 May 1955) is the chair of C&L Holdings and a former pro-Beijing member of Hong Kong Legislative Council. She is the second daughter of Chiang Chen who was a Hong Kong entrepreneur.
Background
Ch ...
uploaded a video to Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...
slamming Sham for being gay and alleging that he intentionally concealed his sexuality to gain status with the pan-democracy camp in Hong Kong. The video showed him in drag
Drag or The Drag may refer to:
Places
* Drag, Norway, a village in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway
* ''Drág'', the Hungarian name for Dragu Commune in Sălaj County, Romania
* Drag (Austin, Texas), the portion of Guadalupe Street adj ...
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 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 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 game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
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 Kowloon, Hong Kong. The mixed land use of industrial and residential is present in the old area. The Cosmopolitan Dock and oil depots were previously located there. Blocks of high-rise residential ...
, Kowloon. He was taken, bleeding heavily, to Kwong Wah Hospital.
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 LGBT politicians
Hong Kong LGBT rights activists
League of Social Democrats politicians
District councillors of Sha Tin District
Prisoners and detainees of Hong Kong
Hong Kong political prisoners
People convicted under the Hong Kong national security law