HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong judge ruled Tuesday in favor of a lesbian couple's parental recognition of their son born through reciprocal in vitro fertilization in a landmark case.
The couple, identified as B and R, underwent the medical procedure in South Africa in 2020 after getting married in the country. During the treatment, an egg was extracted from R and was fertilized with sperm from an anonymous male donor to create an embryo, which was then transferred to B's womb. The boy was born in Hong Kong in 2021, but only B was listed as his mother on his birth certificate.
Judge Russell Coleman's ruling over the judicial challenge was a step forward for the LGBTQ+ movement in a city that does not endorse same-sex marriages but is working toward a framework to recognize same-sex partnerships.
Coleman said in a written judgment that parts of Hong Kong's Parent and Child Ordinance “significantly impede” the boy from representing his relationship with R to the outside world.
He agreed that if one gets to an analysis, “a reasonable balance is not struck between the societal benefits of the measure and the inroads made into the rights of the affected individuals.”
“The constitutional challenge is made good,” he said.
He added that although he found a proper basis for a directive to address the matter, he stopped short of handing that down because he hoped to first hear further arguments on what the relief should be.
It is unclear how many couples would benefit from Coleman’s ruling.
Law firm Patricia Ho & Associates, which represents the applicant, said in a statement on LinkedIn that it welcomed the court's recognition of the rights of family and children as well as the rights to equal protection. It said it is helpful to the boy that the court accepted that such rights have been infringed, and they look forward to seeing the full picture on this case when the court determines a remedy.
In a separate court ruling in 2023 concerning B and R, Judge Queeny Au-Yeung said that while R does not fall within the statutory scheme, she declared that R is a parent of the boy “at common law." The judgment cited a legal opinion noting that the couple are recognized as his parents under South African law.
In parts of Europe, court rulings have already granted same-sex couples better legal parental recognition in recent years.
The European Court of Justice in 2021 ruled that a child with two mothers certified in one EU nation must also be recognized by the other EU members as such. In May, Italy’s Constitutional Court ruled that two women can register as parents of a child on a birth certificate though the country has maintained strict restrictions on IVF and a ban on surrogacy since 2004.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong lawmakers are set to resume their debate Wednesday on proposals to allow residents who have already formed unions overseas to register their partnerships locally.
The government bill emerged from one of the legal victories in recent years that expanded rights for same-sex couples. If passed, eligible couples will be able to secure rights on medical and after-death matters. But its passage is uncertain given fierce opposition in the legislature.
People walk out of the Hong Kong High Court in Admiralty, Hong Kong, on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025. (AP photo/Kanis Leung)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department said Wednesday that it may need a “few more weeks" to release all of its records on the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after suddenly discovering more than a million potentially relevant documents, further delaying compliance with last Friday’s congressionally mandated deadline.
The Christmas Eve announcement came hours after a dozen U.S. senators called on the Justice Department’s watchdog to examine its failure to meet the deadline. The group, 11 Democrats and a Republican, told Acting Inspector General Don Berthiaume in a letter that victims “deserve full disclosure” and the “peace of mind” of an independent audit.
The Justice Department said in a social media post that federal prosecutors in Manhattan and the FBI “have uncovered over a million more documents” that could be related to the Epstein case — a stunning 11th hour development after department officials suggested months ago that they had undertaken a comprehensive review that accounted for the vast universe of Epstein-related materials.
In March, Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News that a “truckload of evidence” had been produced after she ordered the FBI to “deliver the full and complete Epstein files to my office.” She issued the directive after saying she learned from an unidentified source that the FBI in New York was “in possession of thousands of pages of documents.”
In July, the FBI and Justice Department indicated in an unsigned memo that they had undertaken an “exhaustive review” and had determined that no additional evidence should be released — an extraordinary about face from the Trump administration, which for months had pledged maximum transparency. The memo did not raise the possibility that additional evidence existed that officials were unaware of or had not reviewed.
Wednesday’s post did not say when the Justice Department was informed of the newly uncovered files.
In a letter last week, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said Manhattan federal prosecutors already had more than 3.6 million records from sex trafficking investigations into Epstein and his longtime confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, though many were copies of material already turned over by the FBI.
The Justice Department said its lawyers are “working around the clock” to review the documents and remove victims names and other identifying information as required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted last month that requires the government to open its files on Epstein and Maxwell.
“We will release the documents as soon as possible,” the department said. “Due to the mass volume of material, this process may take a few more weeks.”
The announcement came amid increasing scrutiny on the Justice Department’s staggered release of Epstein-related records, including from Epstein victims and members of Congress.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie, of Kentucky, one of the chief authors of the law mandating the document release, posted Wednesday on X: “DOJ did break the law by making illegal redactions and by missing the deadline.” Another architect of the law, Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., said he and Massie will “continue to keep the pressure on” and noted that the Justice Department was releasing more documents after lawmakers threatened contempt.
“A Christmas Eve news dump of ‘a million more files’ only proves what we already know: Trump is engaged in a massive coverup,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after the DOJ's announcement. “The question Americans deserve answered is simple: WHAT are they hiding — and WHY?”
The White House on Wednesday defended the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein records.
“President Trump has assembled the greatest cabinet in American history, which includes Attorney General Bondi and her team — like Deputy Attorney General Blanche — who are doing a great job implementing the President’s agenda,” spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement.
After releasing an initial wave of records on Friday, the Justice Department posted more batches to its website over the weekend and on Tuesday. The Justice Department has not given any notice when more records might arrive.
Records that have been released, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs, court records and other documents, were either already public or heavily blacked out, and many lacked necessary context. Records that hadn’t been seen before include transcripts of grand jury testimony from FBI agents who described interviews they had with several girls and young women who described being paid to perform sex acts for Epstein.
Other records made public in recent days include a note from a federal prosecutor from January 2020 that said Trump had flown on the financier’s private plane more often than had been previously known and emails between Maxwell and someone who signs off with the initial “A.” They contain other references that suggest the writer was Britain’s former Prince Andrew. In one, “A” writes: “How’s LA? Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?”
The senators’ call Wednesday for an inspector general audit comes days after Schumer introduced a resolution that, if passed, would direct the Senate to file or join lawsuits aimed at forcing the Justice Department to comply with the disclosure and deadline requirements. In a statement, he called the staggered, heavily redacted release “a blatant cover-up.”
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined Sens. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. and Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., in leading the call for an inspector general audit. Others signing the letter were Democratic Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota., Adam Schiff of California, Dick Durbin of Illinois, Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both of New Jersey, Gary Peters of Michigan, Chris Van Hollen, of Maryland, Mazie Hirono, of Hawaii, and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island.
“Given the (Trump) Administration’s historic hostility to releasing the files, politicization of the Epstein case more broadly, and failure to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, a neutral assessment of its compliance with the statutory disclosure requirements is essential,” the senators wrote. Full transparency, they said, “is essential in identifying members of our society who enabled and participated in Epstein’s crimes.”
Sisak reported from Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
FILE - Audrey Strauss, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, points to a photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, during a news conference in New York on July 2, 2020. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
