Hong Kong court supports same-sex married couples’ right to equal housing

A court in Hong Kong rejected the government’s attempt to prevent same-sex married couples from renting or owning public housing. The court deemed this action as discrimination and a complete denial of these couples’ rights.

The Court of Appeal in Hong Kong made a decision on Tuesday that is another step forward for supporters of gay rights in the city. This is part of a trend of legal victories for the LGBTQ+ community in Hong Kong this year.

The government disagreed with two court decisions that said it was wrong for the city’s housing authority to not let same-sex couples who got married in another country live in public housing.

The appeal was about two situations. In one situation, the authority said no to a permanent resident who wanted to rent a public flat with his husband. They said no because their marriage in Canada wasn’t recognized in Hong Kong.

A same-sex couple in Hong Kong were not allowed to jointly own a government-subsidized flat because their marriage in Britain was not accepted in Hong Kong.

In a written decision, Judges Jeremy Poon, Aarif Barma, and Thomas Au from the Court of Appeal said that the way the authority handled gay married couples was unfair and discriminatory. They stated that these couples should be given the same treatment as others.

“The judges said that the different treatment in these cases is a more severe kind of unfair treatment than most cases. This is because the requirement is something that same-sex couples can never fulfill. ”

Henry Li, one of the men in the second case, expressed his approval of the ruling on Facebook.

The Hong Kong Marriage Equality rights group also approved of the decision. They believe that it has clearly shown that discrimination and unfair treatment based on someone’s sexual orientation should not be allowed in public policy choices.

In September, Hong Kong’s highest court decided against allowing same-sex marriage. However, they recognized that same-sex couples still require a different legal system to fulfill their basic social needs.

The government had two years to create a plan.

In September, a court in Hong Kong agreed with a married lesbian couple who said that both women should be recognized as parents of their child, who was born through reciprocal IVF.

People in other parts of Asia are keeping an eye on Hong Kong’s courts. They hope that the decisions made there could impact movements pushing for change in their own countries.