Hong Kong, November 27 : In a landmark ruling, Hong Kong's top court on Wednesday upheld the inheritance and public housing benefits for same-sex married couples, marking a significant step for gay rights in the territory, despite Hong Kong not recognising same-sex marriage, The New York Times reported.
The ruling brings an end to two long-standing legal battles involving couples who married overseas. One such case was that of Nick Infinger, who married his husband in Canada. They applied for public housing in Hong Kong but were rejected. Infinger sued Hong Kong's Housing Authority in 2018 and won, but the government appealed.
In the other case from 2019, Edgar Ng sought to challenge the lawfulness of a policy after learning that his husband, whom he married in Britain, would not be able to inherit his government-subsidised apartment. Ng died in 2020, and lower courts subsequently ruled in his favour. His husband, Henry Li, contested the Hong Kong government's efforts to appeal those rulings, as reported by the New York Times.
"The exclusion of same-sex married couples from Hong Kong's housing policies cannot be justified and that welfare benefits should be distributed on a rational and justifiable basis, free from discrimination," Chief Justice Andrew Cheung stated on Tuesday.
Further, Judges Joseph Fok and Roberto Ribeiro said that "the government had failed to justify the differential treatment in inheritance laws," describing them as "unlawful and unconstitutional."
Nick Infinger, speaking outside the Court of Final Appeal, expressed his approval of the decision made by Hong Kong's top court, saying, "The ruling today affirms the right of same-sex couples to love one another and live together. This is very important."
Jerome Yau, the co-founder of Hong Kong Marriage Equality, an advocacy group, said the decision sent a clear signal to the government that it must stop denying spousal benefits to same-sex married couples.
"These positions will reinforce the message that the time has come," Yau said. "Really, it's time for the government to understand from a legal standpoint that it is wrong to treat people differently because of their sexual orientation."
Last year, Hong Kong's top court made a decision that the government must create a system to legally recognise same-sex partnerships by October 2025. However, the court did not go as far as recognising same-sex marriage as legally valid.
Despite this, a study published last year shows that more and more people in Hong Kong support same-sex marriage. In fact, 60 per cent of people surveyed said they were in favour of it, according to the New York Times.
"The most sensible thing to do is to legalise same-sex marriage," Yau said. "The court made it clear that the government has to come up with a framework. It does not make sense to continue addressing this issue in a piecemeal fashion."