Ageing Asia wants more babies, but excludes LGBTQ couples from starting families at almost every turn

In the quest to address dwindling birth rates across much of the Asia-Pacific, governments routinely say they want to encourage people to have more babies.

Before the ruling, only one of the partners would have been recognised as the child’s parent under existing Hong Kong law.

LGBTQ couples in Singapore – with its similar legal system rooted in colonial-era British common law – certainly took notice of the Hong Kong ruling, but legal experts expect its impact to be limited, given the wider lack of legal protections for non-heteronormative people.

The decision did open a pathway for lesbian couples in Hong Kong to secure joint custody over their children, according to lawyer Evelyn Tsao, who represented one of the women, but “it does not automatically validate all other relationships”.

“Each family would have to apply to court to get the order for guardianship and joint custody,” she said. “Not many couples choose to do that because they have to spend a lot of time and money to do so, and many would just rather resign to the fact that the law does not respect their status as a family.”

Singaporean couple Ching Sia, 42, and Cally Cheung, 29, had discussed having children on their second date, more than six years ago.

But they knew making that happen would have involved navigating a labyrinth of laws, only to hit the same old stumbling block: being recognised as the child’s legal guardians once it was born.

Cheung became pregnant after just one round of IVF in Australia and gave birth to a daughter last year.

“We are so grateful this process worked for us, but having a child as a queer couple will never be easy,” said Cheung, noting that being able to afford costly IVF treatments abroad was a privilege.

Complicating matters