A 35-year-old gay man has been granted joint parental responsibility of his 2-year-old son, borne by a lesbian friend who denied the man access, reported The Scotsman.

The order gives him equal rights of contact and a say in all decisions about the child's upbringing and is commonly used for unmarried couples.

The court heard that the man had agreed that the mother, a friend, would have the baby by artificial insemination and then share its upbringing. At the time neither was in a gay relationship.

The ruling comes just two months after a man who acted as a sperm donor for a lesbian couple in Glasgow won full parental rights.

The woman, also 35, conceived immediately after using a turkey baster to inseminate herself. He said she then seemed undecided about a continuing relationship him and refused to let him see the child and was by then in a lesbian relationship.

The North London man added that he had to defend his role as a father when his paternal rights should be automatic.