A Hong Kong judge on Tuesday ruled that a lesbian couple should have parental recognition of their son born through reciprocal in vitro fertilization, a decision advocates described as a landmark step for LGBTQ+ rights in the city.
Judge Russell Coleman said parts of Hong Kong’s Parent and Child Ordinance “significantly impede” the boy from representing his relationship with the couple’s second mother, identified only as R, and that the law does not strike “a reasonable balance…between the societal benefits of the measure and the inroads made into the rights of the affected individuals.” He added, “The constitutional challenge is made good.”
The couple, identified in court as B and R, married in South Africa and underwent reciprocal IVF there in 2020. An egg was extracted from R, fertilized with sperm from an anonymous donor and implanted in B, who gave birth in Hong Kong in 2021. Only B was listed as the child’s mother on his Hong Kong birth certificate, prompting the legal challenge.
Coleman said there was a proper basis for issuing a directive to remedy the statutory shortfall but declined to hand down such an order immediately, saying he wanted to hear further arguments on the appropriate relief. It remains unclear how many families in Hong Kong could benefit from the ruling.
The decision follows a separate 2023 ruling in which Justice Queeny Au-Yeung found that R did not fall within the statutory parental scheme but declared R a parent of the child “at common law.” That judgment noted a legal opinion that the couple are recognized as the child’s parents under South African law.
Hong Kong currently does not permit same-sex marriage, though the government has been moving toward a framework to recognize some overseas unions locally. Lawmakers are scheduled to resume debate Wednesday on a government bill that would allow residents who have formed unions overseas to register their partnerships in Hong Kong. The proposed legislation would give eligible couples certain rights on medical and after-death matters, but its passage is uncertain amid strong opposition in the legislature.
The court’s ruling aligns with a trend in parts of Europe to extend legal parental recognition to same-sex couples. In 2021, the European Court of Justice said a child with two mothers certified in one EU nation must be recognized as such by other member states. In May 2025, Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled that two women can be registered as parents on a birth certificate despite the country’s strict restrictions on IVF and a longstanding ban on surrogacy.
Lawyers for the couple and Hong Kong government officials did not immediately announce next steps. Coleman’s decision will likely prompt further legal submissions on what remedies are required to align Hong Kong law with the judge’s constitutional findings.