In what has been hailed as a historic first, a court in China granted visitation rights to a lesbian mother who had been separated from her daughter for four years. The case marks the first time that courts in China were confronted with a same-sex custody dispute.

As reported by The Guardian, the case was brought to court by a woman who lives in Shanghai and goes by the nickname Didi. In 2016, Didi married her wife in the US and later that year, the couple underwent IVF treatment with embryos made from the wife’s eggs and donor sperm implanted in both women.

In 2017, Didi gave birth to a daughter, while her wife gave birth to a son. However, both children were genetically related only to the wife.

Then in 2019, back in China, the couple broke up and Didi’s wife cut off all contact, taking the two children with her to Beijing. In 2020, Didi went to court seeking joint custody for both children.

In May this year, a court in Beijing ruled that Didi should be allowed monthly visits with the child she gave birth to, making this the first time courts in China recognised that a child can have two legal mothers. The ruling has been hailed as a milestone by LGBTQ+ activists in the country.

After four years apart, last month, Didi was finally able to visit her seven-year-old daughter as a result of the ruling. However, she said the victory was bittersweet, because she was denied a visit to her son. “I really love both my children, I want to look after them,” she said.

Didi had her parental rights recognised in the case of her daughter because she was the one who gave birth to the child, but she had very little chance to be legally recognised as a guardian for her son as well. Despite this, her lawyer said the decision represented a “big step forward”, while Didi commented that she “still has faith for the future”.

Same-sex unions are not legally recognised in China and the local legislation assumes that children will be born to heterosexual, married couples. While there are provisions for adoption and step-parenthood, the law fails to account for cases in which couples have children with the “shared motherhood” approach.

According to a new survey conducted in China by the Williams Institute at UCLA, 85% of people in the country are favourable to same-sex parents, with nearly 90% supporting same-sex marriage.