CNN —A Hong Kong court has dismissed a government bid to deny same-sex married couples the right to rent and own public housing, saying that it was “discriminatory in nature” and a complete denial of such couples’ rights.
The ruling by Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal on Tuesday is the latest in a series of legal breakthroughs for gay rights advocates in the global financial hub this year.
The government had challenged two High Court rulings that it was “unconstitutional and unlawful” for the city’s housing authority to exclude same-sex couples who married abroad from public housing.
A Hong Kong court in September sided with a married lesbian couple who argued that both women should have parental status over their child born via reciprocal IVF.
Activists in other parts of Asia are watching Hong Kong’s courts in the hope that their rulings could influence campaigns for reform elsewhere.
Persons:
Hong, Jeremy Poon, Aarif Barma, Thomas Au, Henry Li
Organizations:
CNN, Facebook ., Hong
Locations:
Hong Kong, Hong Kong’s, Canada, Britain, Asia