HONG KONG – Married same-sex partners will be allowed to own subsidised housing together in Hong Kong after a landmark high court ruling today, a major stride for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in the financial hub.
Hong Kong does not recognise same-sex marriage, but individual couples can challenge discriminatory policies in court.
The city’s subsidised housing policies, which do not acknowledge same-sex partners as a tenant’s family member, “constitute unlawful discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation”, said the court.
The case is a second victory for gay couple Henry Li and his deceased partner Edgar Ng against the government after a ruling last year allowing same-sex couples equal rights to inheritance.
Ng, who suffered from depression, took his own life in December. The case was filed before his death in 2019, but hearings began in April this year.
Justice Anderson Chow said city housing policies that deny same-sex partners joint occupancy and ownership rights are in violation of the Basic Law, the city’s mini constitution, and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights.
Ng challenged the city’s inheritance and intestacy laws last year, concerned that if he died without a will, his property would not be passed on to his partner.
Chow, who also presided over that case, concluded that the exclusion of same-sex spouses from inheritance rights is “unlawful discrimination”.
Ng bought a government-subsidised flat in 2018, a year after marrying Li in the United Kingdom.
The couple were not entitled to joint ownership under Hong Kong’s housing policies. – AFP, June 25, 2021
