Hong Kong’s top court ruled on Tuesday to uphold inheritance and public housing benefits for same-sex married couples, a decision that supporters hailed as an important step toward expanding gay rights in the territory.
Hong Kong does not recognize same-sex marriage, but the rulings brought an end to two protracted legal battles involving couples who married overseas.
Nick Infinger, who married his husband in Canada, sued Hong Kong’s Housing Authority in 2018 after their joint application for public housing was denied. His challenge was successful, but the government appealed.
In a separate case, Edgar Ng sought in 2019 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-subsidized apartment. Mr. Ng died in 2020, and lower courts subsequently ruled in his favor. His husband, Henry Li, contested the Hong Kong government’s efforts to appeal those rulings.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice Andrew Cheung wrote in his ruling that 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.”
Separately, the judges Joseph Fok and Roberto Ribeiro wrote that the government had “failed to justify the differential treatment” in inheritance laws, describing them as “unlawful and unconstitutional.”
Speaking outside the Court of Final Appeal, Mr. Infinger welcomed the decision.
“The ruling today affirms the right of same-sex couples to love one another and live together,” he said. “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,” Mr. Yau said in a phone interview. “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 ruled that the city’s government must establish a framework to legally recognize same-sex partnerships by October 2025. But the court stopped short of recognizing the legal status of same-sex marriage.
A study published last year showed that public support for same-sex marriage had increased in Hong Kong, with 60 percent of respondents saying they supported it.
“The most sensible thing to do is to legalize same-sex marriage,” Mr. 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.”
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