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'Discriminatory policy': Hong Kong court rules in favour of LGBTQ community

WION Web Team
Hong KongUpdated: Jun 25, 2021, 04:32 PM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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Henry Li and his deceased partner Edgar Ng filed a case against the city government’s discriminatory policies in 2019, but Ng took his own life in December after battling depression

Taking the progressive mindset a step forward, Hong Kong’s High Court has ruled in favour of the LGBTQ community with regard to owning subsidised housing.

The Hong Kong High Court ruled that the existing housing policies are discriminatory as it denies same-sex couples to own a house together.

Although Hong Kong does not recognise same-sex marriage, the court said not acknowledging same-sex partners as a tenant’s family member "constitute unlawful discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation".

Henry Li and his deceased partner Edgar Ng filed a case against the city government’s discriminatory policies in 2019, but Ng took his own life in December after battling depression. The hearings for this case began only in April 2021.

Ng believed that if he dies died his property would not be passed on to his partner, which was discriminatory and unfair, and therefore the couple had filed against this rule.

In the recent hearing, the Justice Anderson Chow said that the city housing policies should not deny same-sex partners joint occupancy and ownership rights as it is a violation of the Basic Law.