A gay civil servant, whose legal bid to receive spousal benefits from the government for his partner was shot down by the Court of Appeal, will appeal the ruling, it was announced on social media today.
In a post earlier this afternoon, Scott Adams, partner of Hong Kong Immigration officer Angus Leung, wrote: “It’s official.. decision has been made.. we are going to appeal,” using the hashtag #notgoingdownwithoutafight.
In an email, Leung’s solicitor Mark Daly, of Daly Ho & Associates, confirmed the challenge.
“Mr. Leung is going to appeal to the Court of Final Appeal for his case and we are preparing to file as soon as possible,” he wrote.
The case was first lodged by Leung as a judicial review in 2015 after the Civil Service Bureau refused to extend spousal benefits usually granted to the families of civil servants — such as medical and dental coverage — to Adams, a British national.
The pair — married in 2014 in New Zealand, which, unlike Hong Kong, recognizes same-sex marriage — initially won a landmark decision in 2017, when the High Court ruled the government should grant benefits to spouses of employees in same-sex marriages.
That decision, however, was overturned by the Court of Appeal in June, which ruled that the government was “not just an ordinary employer in the private sector” and was the “custodian of Hong Kong’s prevailing socio-moral values.”
Overturning the previous landmark decision, Appeal Court judges stated that granting benefits to same-sex couples in Hong Kong married overseas would “diminish significantly” the status of marriage in “the eyes of the public at large.”
The quashing of their initial victory was seen as a huge blow by LGBT advocates, who have long pushed the government to legalize gay marriage and end discrimination against same-sex couples.
Reached later by phone, Leung said he had planned to fight on following the June verdict though had waited until legal aid support was approved yesterday until announcing the appeal, which he said would be lodged next week.
“We believe we have merit to go to the Court of Final Appeal,” he told Coconuts HK.
“[The June verdict] was really frustrating and we thought it was a big step back for human rights in Hong Kong but we knew we still had the chance to appeal, so we were just sad for one day, but then we tried to see how we could proceed.”
According to a recent poll, a majority of Hongkongers support legalizing same-sex marriage.
In a recent boost for the LGBT community, the Final Court of Appeal earlier this month sided with a British lesbian, whose partner had been denied a spousal visa.
The verdict cleared the way for same-sex couples to obtain dependent visas for their partner.
Coconuts HK has reached out to Leung and Adams for comment.
