A 27-year-old man who is the first in China to file a lawsuit to register his same-sex marriage said he will appeal after a local court in Changsha, Central China's Hunan Province dismissed his claim on Wednesday.

"China's law and regulation on marriage clearly stipulate that the parties in a marriage are a man and a woman, and the registration application filed by the two men obviously does not meet the requirement," the Furong district court in Changsha announced on its website.

Sun Wenlin, the plaintiff, told the Global Times that he will appeal the ruling, which he said was "unjust and unfair," as no specific law or regulation bans same-sex marriage in China.

"Though the chance of winning is slim, at least we are trying, and it's better than doing nothing," Sun's lawyer Shi Fulong told the Global Times on Wednesday.

Shi added that his client will file the application after receiving the court's verdict, which will be formally delivered within 10 days.

Sun said that he and his 37-year-old partner will keep fighting, even if the appeal is dismissed. He said they will file their marriage application at the local office every year on June 23, the day they first met, until they are finally legally married.

The case was first filed in Furong district court on December 16, 2015 after Sun's marriage registration application was turned down by an official at the Furong bureau of civil affairs, who said that only "one man and one woman" can register as a married couple.

The bureau's marriage registration department has not replied to an interview request from the Global Times.

Sun's case is the first instance in which someone has sought to secure marriage to a same-sex partner through the courts in China, said Shi, adding that the case is the first step in encouraging the country to include the LGBT community within the scope of the law.

Several nongovernmental organizations advocating equal rights for LGBT groups, including Guangzhou-based LGBT Rights Advocacy China and Beijing-based Common Language, told the Global Times on Wednesday that they fully support Sun's appeal, as the voices of the LGBT community need to be heard and addressed.

Xu Bin, director of Common Language, noted that many sexual and gender minorities have publicly voiced their rights and have legally fought for them, which is both inspiring and significant because it urges the government and society to treat LGBT people equally and to stop discriminatory actions.

An increasing number of people in China seem to be coming to accept homosexuality.

An online poll conducted by well-known sexologist Li Yinhe in 2011 found that only 453,373 respondents supported same-sex marriage while 5 million opposed it, online news outlet 163.com reported.

But an ongoing poll conducted by the website found that as of press time on Wednesday 73 percent of 23,630 respondents support gay marriage.