Singapore To Tighten Adoption Laws After Gay Man Wins Parental Rights of Surrogacy-Born Child
January 15, 2019Singapore is set to change its adoption laws to make it tougher for gay people to become parents, reports the South China Morning Post.
The reforms come after a gay man in Singapore won an historic case in December, granting him legal custody of a child he conceived through surrogacy.
The 46-year-old man, who has been in a relationship with another man for more than a decade, had previously been rejected in his attempts to formally adopt his own child and told that Singapore does not recognise LGBT-families.
The man’s child was conceived via surrogacy using his sperm, the procedure was done in the US in 2013. He was able to bring his child to Singapore as he was his biological father, but was bogged down in formal adoption proceedings since 2014.
While the court ruled in favour of the man, they cautioned that this does not signal support for the LGBT+ community.
“Our decision should not be taken as an endorsement of what the appellant and his partner set out to do,” said Chief Justice Sunderesh Menon in his judgement.
The Asian country does not recognise same-sex marriages and still criminalises homosexuality under Section 377A – a hangover from British colonial rule – with up to two years in jail.
“(The government does not support) the formation of family units with children of homosexual parents through institutions and processes such as adoption,” said Social Affairs Minister Desmond Lee.
“Following the court judgement, MSF (Ministry for Social and Family Development) is reviewing our adoption laws and practices to see how they should be strengthened to better reflect public policy.
“While we recognise that there are increasingly diverse forms of families… the prevailing norm of society is still that of a man and a woman.”
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