Overview

• High Court Judge Russell Coleman ruled that parts of the Parent and Child Ordinance unlawfully impede a boy from publicly representing his relationship with his non-gestational mother.
• He stopped short of issuing immediate relief and asked both sides to propose the appropriate remedy and a timetable.
• The couple, identified as B and R, used reciprocal IVF in South Africa in 2020 and their son was born in Hong Kong in 2021 with only the birth mother listed on the certificate.
• A 2023 ruling declared R a parent at common law, yet the Department of Justice refused to re-register the birth, prompting the current constitutional challenge.
• Lawmakers are set to resume debate on a bill to register overseas same-sex partnerships locally, though its passage is uncertain and the number of families affected by the ruling is unclear.