Top Hong Kong court backs housing rights for gay couples

Hong Kong: Hong Kong's top court on Tuesday upheld three earlier rulings that favoured granting public housing and inheritance rights to married same-sex couples, citing equality provisions in the city's mini-constitution.

The unanimous ruling by Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal is the latest legal victory for the city's LGBTQ+ community since 2023.

Judges Andrew Cheung, Robert Ribeiro, Joseph Fok, Johnson Lam 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.

Chief Judge 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 subsidised housing rights and inheritance rights in three cases.

One involved the city's Housing Authority declining to consider an application by permanent resident Nick Infinger to rent a public flat with his husband, because their marriage in Canada was not recognised in Hong Kong.

In the other, same-sex couple Edgar Ng and his husband Henry Li were denied joint-ownership of a government-subsidised flat because their marriage in Britain was not recognised 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 the city'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 recognised 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."

Li honoured his late partner Ng 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 last September ruled against legalising 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.

A Hong Kong government spokesman said on Tuesday that it respected the Court of Final Appeal's latest decision.

"We will study the judgment thoroughly and seek legal advice from the Department of Justice for appropriate follow-up actions," the spokesman said.

Last year, the top court ruled that the policy of barring transgender people from changing the sex shown on their ID cards unless they underwent full gender reassignment surgery violated their rights.

Jerome Yau, co-founder of Hong Kong Marriage Equality, told the media that "the court made it very clear that same-sex marriage is just the same as heterosexual marriage".