Hong Kong's Historic Ruling: Marriage Equality Extends to Same-Sex Couples' Housing Rights
Hong Kong court rejects government's discriminatory attempt to deny same-sex married couples equal housing rights, upholding their right to rent and own public housing
The Hong Kong court rejected the government's attempt to prevent same-sex married couples from renting and owning public housing, deeming it discriminatory and a violation of their rights. This decision from the Court of Appeal marks another significant victory for advocates of LGBTQ+ rights in the international financial center.
The government contested two High Court judgments that deemed it "unconstitutional and illegal" for the city's housing authority to exclude married same-sex couples who obtained their marriage abroad from accessing public housing.
The appeal encompassed two instances, with one involving the authority's refusal to consider a permanent resident's request to rent a public flat with their spouse, as their Canadian marriage was not acknowledged in Hong Kong.
The other case involved a couple of the same sex who were denied the right to jointly own a government-subsidized flat by the authority. This was due to their marriage in Britain not being recognized in Hong Kong.
Court of Appeal justices, Jeremy Poon, Aarif Barma, and Thomas Au, stated in a written judgment that the authority's treatment of married gay couples was discriminatory and that they should receive equal treatment.
The judges stated in their ruling that the differential treatment in these current cases is a form of indirect discrimination that is harsher than in most cases, as same-sex couples can never fulfill the criterion.
Henry Li, one of the men involved in the second case, expressed his approval of the ruling on Facebook.
Hong Kong Marriage Equality, a rights group, similarly praised the decision, asserting that it unequivocally establishes that public policy decisions must not tolerate discrimination or unequal treatment based on sexual orientation.
Despite ruling against same-sex marriage in September, Hong Kong's highest court recognized the necessity for same-sex couples to have access to an alternate legal framework to fulfill their fundamental social needs.
The government was granted a two-year timeframe to devise the framework.
In September, a Hong Kong court ruled in favor of a married lesbian couple who contended that both women should be recognized as parents of their child, born through reciprocal IVF.
Activists in other parts of Asia are watching Hong Kongs courts in the hope that their rulings could influence campaigns for reform elsewhere.
