Ageing Asia wants more babies, but excludes LGBTQ couples from starting families at almost every turn
- From Singapore to New Zealand, same-sex couples often find the doorway to parenthood barred by entrenched conservatism, legal hurdles and prejudice
- Access to fertility treatments can be restricted, funding unavailable and legal protections lacking – despite a recent Hong Kong ruling offering hope
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”.
Many would just rather resign to the fact that the law does not respect their status as a family