Chinese woman fighting landmark LGBTQ+ custody battle wins right to visit daughter

Case marks first instance of Chinese court legally recognising a child as having two mothers

A Beijing court has granted a woman visiting rights to her daughter, marking the first instance of the Chinese judiciary legally recognising a child as having two mothers.

The ruling is a major victory for LGBTQ+ rights in a country where same-sex marriage is not legal.

The 42-year-old woman, known only by her nickname Didi, was engaged in a custody battle for two children, reported The Guardian.

Didi and her wife married in 2016 in the US and both took IVF treatment using her wife’s eggs and a donor’s sperm. They both conceived. Didi gave birth to a daughter in 2017 and her wife to a son.

After their relationship ended, Didi’s wife took both children and moved to Beijing, severing contact with her.

In March 2020, Didi, who now lives in Shanghai, filed China’s first same-sex custody dispute.

Four years later, in May 2024, the Beijing Fengtai People’s Court ruled that Didi should be permitted monthly visits with her daughter. But she was not given visitation rights to her son since she has genetic ties with only her daughter.

Didi’s lawyer, Gao Mingyue, said Chinese law takes an “avoidance approach” to same-sex relationships. “It does not clearly define the rights of same-sex couples,” he explained.

While China decriminalised homosexuality in 1997, same-sex couples cannot marry or adopt children.

There are some legal rights for adopted children and step parents, but not for lesbian couples since China only allows the name of the woman who gives birth on the birth certificate.

Though the egg used was her wife’s, the fact that Didi gave birth to her daughter gave her some legal grounds to claim maternal rights.

The ruling in Didi’s case is significant because it is the first time there has been any legal acknowledgement and recognition of the fact that a child can have two mothers.

“I think maybe she still remembers me,” said Didi, after travelling to Beijing last month to see her daughter after four years of no contact.

“I really love both my children, I want to look after them.”

Births in China have been rapidly falling due to the one-child policy implemented from 1980 to 2015.

Gao said this has resulted in courts being more willing to protect the rights of children born out of wedlock.

“But for the same-sex couples themselve, it’s getting more and more difficult,” Gao said.

“The courts are still not protecting the covenants and arrangements between couples.”