This is a first in South Korea. A court on Tuesday recognized the rights of a same-sex couple in a landmark ruling hailed by activists as a significant victory for LGBT+ rights. The case, which will now go to the Supreme Court, was initiated by So Seong-wook and Kim Yong-min, two men who married in 2019, in a ceremony that has no legal validity. under South Korean law, which does not recognize same-sex marriages.
In 2021, So Seong-wook sued the country’s public health insurance service, the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS), after benefits for his partner, registered as a dependent, were cut off after the NHIS discovered that the two men were a same-sex couple. A lower court ruled in favor of the NHIS in 2022 but, in a major reversal, the Seoul High Court overturned that decision on Tuesday, ordering the health insurance service to reinstate Kim Yong-min’s benefits .
” We are happy. This is not only our victory, (it is) also a victory for many same-sex couples and LGBTQ families in Korea,” the couple said after the judgment, according to their attorney Park Han-hee. . The court ruled that the NHIS had failed to provide “substantial rational reasons” for treating same-sex unions differently from common-law opposite-sex unions, according to a copy of the decision to which AFP reported. could have access.
Still a long way to go
The NHIS allows de facto cohabitants under common law to benefit from its benefits. ” Everybody can [faire partie] of a minority and [faire partie] of a minority just means to be different from the majority, not to be wrongful or incorrect,” according to the court ruling. “It is recognized that the discriminatory practice found in this case violates the principle of equality,” the Seoul High Court concluded. The NHIS told AFP it would appeal.
If South Korea still has a “long way (to go) to put an end to discrimination (…) this decision gives hope that prejudices can be overcome”, declared Jang Boram. Seoul does not criminalize same-sex relationships, but marriages are not recognized and many LGBT+ people tend to live under the radar. Activists have long insisted on the need for a law against discrimination based on sexual orientation, but no text has yet reached a consensus among South Korean parliamentarians.