Court Quashes Same-sex Civil Service Benefits

The Court of Appeal has overturned a gay civil servant's legal victory which had forced the SAR government to grant civil servants in same-sex unions the same spousal benefits as their married straight colleagues.

Senior Immigration Officer Leung Chun-kwong had taken the government to court after he was told his husband, who he married in New Zealand in 2014, was not eligible for benefits such as medical and dental care.

In April last year, the High Court ruled in Leung's favour, and said the government had discriminated against him based on his sexual orientation.

But the government appealed against the ruling, arguing that Hong Kong does not recognise same-sex marriage.

On Friday, the appeal court agreed and quashed the lower court's ruling, noting that the Basic Law and the prevailing “socio-moral views of society" regard a union between a man and a woman as the only form of marriage acceptable.

A three-judge panel also dismissed Leung's appeal to be allowed to apply for joint tax assessment with his husband, a challenge the civil servant had lost at the High Court last year.

In the judgement, Justice Jeremy Poon said society's views on marriage were a highly significant factor in justifying the appeal decision, adding that it is not up to the law to change society's values.

He said any financial prejudice Leung suffers as a result of being denied the benefits and married status for tax purposes "is reasonably balanced out by the immense public interests involved in protecting the status of marriage".

But he went on to note that "societal views on marriage might change materially in favour of same-sex marriage in the future" and that could lead the courts to eventually come to a different conclusion.