HONG KONG
Hong Kong’s top court has ruled in favour of a gay Public Servant seeking spousal benefits for his partner, saying different treatment based on sexual orientation is unjustifiable.
The officer at the Department of Immigration, Leung Chun-kwong (pictured with his partner, Scott Adams) had sued both the Hong Kong Government’s Civil Service Bureau and the Department of Taxation for rejecting his application for spousal benefits and joint tax assessment after his same-sex marriage was not recognised.
Announcing its decision, the five-judge panel on the Court of Final Appeal said it was unable to accept the proposition that heterosexual marriage would be undermined by the extension of the employment and tax benefits to same-sex married couples.
The ruling also said it was difficult to see how the Secretary of the Civil Service, by denying to a married same-sex couple the same employment benefits available to a married opposite-sex couple, could comply with employment policies that sought to eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Mr Leung and Mr Adams married in New Zealand in 2014.
Mr Leung sought a ruling from Hong Kong’s top court after the Court of Appeal, a lower appellate court in the Territory, overturned an earlier court decision that had come out in his favour.
Speaking to a crowded media conference, Mr Leung said he welcomed the ruling, but it was only a small step forward in the fight for equal rights in Hong Kong.
The Civil Service Bureau said it respected the ruling and would take appropriate action after consulting with the Department of Justice.
Hong Kong, 8 June 2019
