Key Court Cases
A parent’s sexual orientation is not an automatically disqualifying factor in cases involving child custody.
The right to equality doesn’t mean all differences in treatment would be discriminatory but differential treatment can only be justified if it meets three legal tests.
Differential treatment based on grounds like race, sex and sexual orientation would attract intense scrutiny.
Pre-operative transgender inmates cannot serve their time in a prison that aligns with their affirmed gender identity.
Transgender inmates should have access to hormonal treatment while in custody.
Same-sex couples are eligible for spousal visa.
The court strikes down the remaining discriminatory criminal offences on Hong Kong’s statute books that relate only to gay men.
Same-sex couples legally married are eligible for joint income tax assessment.
Spouses of gay civil servants are entitled to receive spousal benefits.
The court rules against same-sex civil partnership and same-sex marriage.
*The case is being appealed.
The Court of First Instance rules that the Housing Authority’s differential treatment under the Spousal Policy in the case is discriminatory. Married same-sex couples are eligible to apply for public rental housing as ordinary families. The Housing Authority is appealing the decision, and the appeal will be heard on 16-17 February 2022.
A Uganda national raises a non-refoulment claim of protection on the basis that if she returns to Uganda, she will be harmed or killed for being a lesbian. Her application is denied.
The Director of Immigration and the Torture Claims Appeal Board have to follow a new guidance in their facts-finding determination of whether gays or lesbians have well-founded fear of persecution in their home countries.
*Leave to apply for judicial review granted.
The Court of First Instance has ruled that the exclusion of spouses to same-sex marriages from legal entitlements and benefits under intestacy and inheritance laws is discriminatory.
Both the Court of First Instance and the Court of Appeal ruled against the applicant. The case is being appealed to the Court of Final Appeal.
The court holds that the spousal policy in the Home Ownership Scheme is discriminatory and unconstitutional. The government is appealing the decision, and the appeal will be heard on 16-17 February 2022.
The court rules that the non-biological mother of children born by her prior same-sex partner should be granted guardianship rights over their children.
In this joint custody case, the court rules that the two separated lesbian partners shall continue to be recognized as legal guardians of their two children.