Hong Kong’s top court yesterday upheld three earlier rulings that favored granting public housing and inheritance rights to married same-sex couples, citing equality provisions in the territory’s mini-constitution.
The unanimous ruling by the Court of Final Appeal is the latest legal victory for Hong Kong’s LGBTQ+ community since last year.
Judges Andrew Cheung (張舉能), Robert Ribeiro, Joseph Fok (霍兆剛), Johnson Lam (林文瀚) and Frank Stock said in a written ruling they rejected the government’s arguments that same-sex and opposite sex couples were not comparable in terms of their rights to public housing.
Photo: AP
Cheung acknowledged the limited resources officials work with, but said this “in no way lessens the necessity of allocating social welfare benefits on a rational and justifiable basis, free from discrimination.”
Fok and Ribeiro wrote in another written ruling that existing inheritance rules were “discriminatory and unconstitutional.”
The government’s challenge to the top court came after the lower Court of Appeal earlier upheld rulings granting same-sex couples who married overseas subsidized housing rights and inheritance rights in three cases.
One involved the Housing Authority declining to consider an application by permanent resident Nick Infinger to rent a public apartment with his husband, because their marriage in Canada was not recognized in Hong Kong.
In the other, same-sex couple Edgar Ng (吳翰林) and his husband, Henry Li (李奕豪), were denied joint-ownership of a government-subsidised apartment, because their marriage in Britain was not recognized in Hong Kong.
Ng also launched the third case, expressing fears that if he died without leaving a will, he would not be able to pass his property to his husband under Hong Kong’s inheritance laws.
Li took over the two cases after Ng took his own life in 2020 after years of depression.
Speaking outside the court after the ruling, Infinger said he knew of other couples who wanted to create a home, but did not have the means to stage a legal battle.
“Today’s court rulings recognized that same-sex couples can love each other and deserve to live together,” Infinger said, waving an LGBTQ+ rainbow towel.
“This is not only fighting for me and for my partner, but this is fighting for all the same-sex couples in Hong Kong,” he said.
Li honored his late partner in a Facebook post.
“Today, November 26, 2024, our case has finally come to an end. I am grateful to the court for affirming your suffering and for your dedication to the equal rights for LGBTQ,” Li wrote.
Hong Kong’s top court in September ruled against same-sex marriage, but acknowledged the need for same-sex couples to access alternative legal frameworks to meet “basic social requirements,”
The government was given two years to produce the framework. Officials have yet to comment on yesterday’s ruling.
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