South Korea’s top court delivers landmark ruling on health insurance for gay couples

The South Korean Supreme Court made a landmark decision on Thursday: gay couples deserve health benefits equal to heterosexual married couples. It is one of the biggest steps towards LGBTQ equality in the country.

What Happened?

It is about two men—So Sung-wook and Kim Yong-min—who are gay partners wanting the ability to enjoy health insurance benefits like heterosexual couples. At first, this request was met with no. Then there was the refusal to give up. They headed to court to fight for their rights.

The court has upheld their argument, saying there was no reason for the discrimination against gay couples based on sexual orientation alone. It’s the very first time that South Korea has ever given legal status to same-sex relationships.

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What’s Next?

LGBTQ rights campaigners are over the moon. They hope it will spark further reform, including the legalization of gay marriage.

Not everyone agreed, however. Outside court religious groups in South Korea opposing equal rights for gay couples staged a protest.

The Big Picture

Compared with some other countries, South Korea has been pretty slow in granting rights to LGBTQ people. So this decision helps them catch up a little. It might help change the way people think about gay couples.

There’s still a long way until gay couples in South Korea have full equality. But this court decision is an important start.