Hong Kong gay couple wins High Court battle as judge rules ‘oppressively unfair’ subsidised housing policy discriminatory
- The case brought by Henry Li and the now-deceased Edgar Ng, centred on the married couple’s ability to live together in a Home Ownership Scheme flat
- Justice Anderson Chow rules Housing Authority ‘singularly failed’ to produce reliable evidence to substantiate argument
A gay couple has won their second judicial challenge against the Hong Kong government in the High Court, this time over a discriminatory policy that barred them from living together in subsidised housing – a situation the judge described as “oppressively unfair”.
Mr Justice Anderson Chow Ka-ming on Friday ruled in favour of Henry Li Yik-ho and Edgar Ng Hon-lam, concluding that the Housing Authority’s policies on adding occupants and transferring ownership of Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats constituted unlawful discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Chow declared both policies “unlawful and unconstitutional” for violating the equality provisions in the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution, and the Hong Kong Bill of Rights.
He quashed both policies, as well as the HOS decision in the couple’s case, and ordered the authority to pay for the applicants’ legal costs.
A spokesman for the authority said it would “take appropriate action after studying the judgment in detail and seeking legal advice”.
