A VICTORIAN lesbian couple have been ordered to allow access for the gay man who donated the sperm used to conceive their son.

The boy, 2 and-a-half, was conceived using artificial insemination on the understanding the sperm donor would have a quasi-parental role in the child's life.

But after the boy was born in September 1999, the relationship between the lesbian couple and the man soured to the point where the boy's mother and her partner wanted to restrict contact between the man and the boy to twice a year.

The Family Court in Melbourne had been told that the mother had complained that when the boy returned from contact visits with his father, he would emit the strong scent of his father's body odour, which made her feel sick.

Although the man had asked for fortnightly visits and access during holidays, the couple were prepared for him to have just six hours access a year.

But the court agreed yesterday to the donor's demands and ordered he should have fortnightly access visits with the boy, which would increase as the child got older.

In his ruling, Justice Paul Guest called for changes to Australia's Family Law Act to reflect the growing phenomenon of gay and lesbian families using sperm donors to conceive.

He said current laws dealing with children conceived as a result of artificial insemination were drafted "with a heterosexual model in mind" and failed to recognise the complexity and diversity of modern family forms.

The man said he was relieved the case was over.

"It's a terrible ordeal to have to pursue a matter through the Family Court," he said.

The case met a mixed response from gay groups, family groups and infertility experts.

In Perth, Pivet Medical Centre general manager Maxim Keyt said under WA laws, donors and recipients who were unknown to each other had to agree on access rights before insemination took place.

He said his clinic advised against recipients using known donors because of complications arising from such arrangements, but such cases represented about one per cent of the clinic's clients.

Gay and Lesbian Equality convener Damian Meyer said he was pleased the court had recognised the role the donor had to play in the child's life.

"At the end of the day it's really no different to a couple breaking up and a step-parent relationship," he said. "Many couples break up after the conception but before the birth of the child, so it's the same sort of situation,"

Australian Family Association spokesman John Barich said although the man, as the child's father, should have access to the child, he was concerned such cases meant the courts were recognising homosexual couples as families.

"The Family Court is getting involved in something very deep," he said.