Opinion | LGBT rights in Hong Kong should be protected, and the government should not seek to block progress

Cliff Buddle says the court ruling against spousal benefits for a gay couple is a setback for Hong Kong’s progress in protecting minority rights, and the government should be ashamed of its role in entrenching prejudice instead of fighting it

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The rights of sexual minorities have reached a critical point in Hong Kong. Illustration: Craig Stephens

Published: 9:03pm, 5 Jun 2018Updated: 9:02pm, 5 Jun 2018

A gay civil servant’s court victory in April last year suggested that the tide was turning in the battle against discrimination in Hong Kong.

A judge granted Angus Leung Chun-kwong, an immigration officer, the right to claim employment benefits which the government reserves for heterosexual married couples. Leung married his partner in New Zealand in 2014. They couldn’t marry in Hong Kong because the city does not allow same-sex marriages.

In September, the Court of Appeal ruled that the lesbian partner of a Hong Kong resident had a right to a dependency visa. That decision is now being considered by the Court of Final Appeal.

These two rulings followed a landmark judgment by the top court in 2013, which gave a transsexual the right to marry her male partner. The judiciary, it seemed, was inclined to interpret the law in a way which upheld the rights of sexual minorities in the face of resistance from the government.

Last week’s appeal ruling in Leung’s case, therefore, came as a shock not only to the LGBT community, but to those who hope to see Hong Kong make progress in protecting minority rights.

Senior immigration officer Angus Leung and his partner Scott Adams leave the High Court last December after attending the appeal hearing. The Court of Appeal last week overturned an earlier ruling which granted the couple spousal benefits available to heterosexual couples. Photo: Winson Wong

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