Yesterday I blogged about a court ruling in Britain that, although commercial surrogacy is illegal in Britain, it is legal for a British subject to have a child by legal surrogacy in California. Today we turn to Singapore, where a court had ruled that a child born by surrogacy to a gay couple could not be regarded as the biological father's child (even by adoption). A higher court this week modified the decision. It turns out that in Singapore surrogacy is not legal for unmarried couples, and there is no same sex marriage. In fact, homosexual sex remains a crime in Singapore...
NBC has the story:
Singapore court allows gay man to adopt son in landmark ruling
The ruling comes amid a renewed public push to review Singapore's colonial-era law under which gay sex carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
"Singapore's high court on Monday allowed a gay doctor to adopt his biological son, a landmark ruling in the socially conservative city-state that comes almost a year after his initial bid was rejected.
"The decision overturns a 2017 ruling in which a court said the man could not adopt the boy because he was born by a surrogate in the United States through in-vitro fertilization — a procedure not available to unmarried couples in Singapore.
"The ruling also comes amid a renewed public push to review Singapore's colonial-era law under which sex between consenting males carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail, after a repeal of a similar law in India this year.
...
"The man, in a relationship with a same-sex partner, paid $200,000 for a woman to carry his child through in-vitro fertilization in the United States after he had learned he was unlikely to be able to adopt a child in Singapore as a gay man."
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It appears that the judge's ruling acknowledged Singaporean law against same sex marriage and same sex relations generally, but felt that the welfare of the child (who otherwise would not have had a legal parent) needed to be given priority.
NBC has the story:
Singapore court allows gay man to adopt son in landmark ruling
The ruling comes amid a renewed public push to review Singapore's colonial-era law under which gay sex carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
"Singapore's high court on Monday allowed a gay doctor to adopt his biological son, a landmark ruling in the socially conservative city-state that comes almost a year after his initial bid was rejected.
"The decision overturns a 2017 ruling in which a court said the man could not adopt the boy because he was born by a surrogate in the United States through in-vitro fertilization — a procedure not available to unmarried couples in Singapore.
"The ruling also comes amid a renewed public push to review Singapore's colonial-era law under which sex between consenting males carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail, after a repeal of a similar law in India this year.
...
"The man, in a relationship with a same-sex partner, paid $200,000 for a woman to carry his child through in-vitro fertilization in the United States after he had learned he was unlikely to be able to adopt a child in Singapore as a gay man."
*********
It appears that the judge's ruling acknowledged Singaporean law against same sex marriage and same sex relations generally, but felt that the welfare of the child (who otherwise would not have had a legal parent) needed to be given priority.
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