Gay Dads Victoria - Discussion: Making decisions about childcare, kinder and school – 8 September 2009

What: Gay Dads Victoria - Discussion: Making decisions about childcare, kinder and school

When: 8 September 2009 – 6.00pm – 7.00pm

Where: Drummond Street Relationship Centre 195 Drummond St Carlton, VIC 3053, Australia

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Queensland Review of the legal status of children being cared for by same-sex parents – Paper Published, Responses due 18 September 2009

Review of the legal status of children being cared for by same-sex parents - August 2009

This is the paper from the Queensland Government on Surrogacy, and IVF issues and Same Sex parents, published yesterday.

Comments on the proposed changes to the parentage presumptions for same-sex
parents can be made before 18 September 2009:

• By email to: legalpolicysubmission@justice.qld.gov.au; or
• By writing to : Director, Strategic Policy, Department of Justice and

Attorney-General, GPO Box 149, Brisbane QLD 4001

This document is also available on the Department of Justice and Attorney-General
community consultation website: http://www.justice.qld.gov.au/33.htm

[Link: Original Document]

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News.com.au - “Christians to fight gay surrogacy laws” by AAP

QUEENSLAND Labor MPs will be lobbied to vote down new laws allowing same-sex surrogacy arrangements.

Premier Anna Bligh has released a model for legal surrogacy in Queensland which is the only Australian state where altruistic surrogacy - where no money changes hands - is still illegal.

MPs will have a conscience vote on the laws, expected to go to parliament before the end of the year after public consultation.

Australian Christian Lobby Queensland director Peter Earle said same-sex surrogacy arrangements would deprive children of the complementary love and care of both a mother and a father.

Mr Earle said the Liberal National Party had given a commitment during the March state election campaign to oppose the laws.

"In the interests of children, we urge them to stick by these commitments, and we urge Labor ... politicians to look to their consciences and follow suit," Mr Earle said in a statement.

"Children are not commodities and their interests should always come before the desires of adults."

But the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities said the announcement was welcome.

"We congratulate the government on bringing Queensland laws up to date with the rest of Australia," association general manager Paul Martin said.

"These changes, if implemented, will bring legal certainty to children of same-sex couples, allowing access to a share of a person's estate or superannuation upon the death of a parent and providing both parents with the power to consent to medical treatment of the child."

But Mr Martin said the government needed to comprehensively overhaul the law, including civil partnerships and adoption for same-sex couples.

[Link: Original Article]

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ABC Online - “Tas MPs consider equal rights for lesbian parents”

The Tasmanian Attorney-General is moving to officially recognise same-sex parents.

Victoria passed laws late last year allowing IVF babies to have two legally recognised mothers and the Tasmanian Government had a similar move blocked in the Upper House six years ago.

Tasmania's Gay and Lesbian rights group says joint motherhood is now recognised in most states and territories and Tasmania should do the same.

The Attorney-General Lara Giddings has told State Parliament the change would remove discrimination and protect children in same-sex relationships.

"As the law stands the birth-mother is registered as the mother and the partner has no rights at law" said Ms Giddings.

"This bill will rectify that situation and put a same-sex partner in the same position as a male partner who has agreed to their partner becoming pregnant through ART."

The Liberals have been granted a conscience vote.

The Shadow Attorney-General Michael Hodgman said the bill is misguided.

"Here you have a situation where the two parents are of the same gender and with respect that is against the law of nature and legally an impossibility to me," said Mr Hodgman.

The Liberals' Rene Hidding and Brett Whiteley will also oppose the bill.

Mr Hidding said it is a corruption of the meaning of parenthood.

 

[Link: Original Article]

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ABC Online - “Qld to include same-sex couples in surrogacy law changes” by Chris O’Brien

 

Everyone ... should be afforded the privileges of parenthood: Bligh (Reuters: Robert Galbraith)

The Queensland Government says same-sex couples will be included in changes to the state's surrogacy laws.

Premier Anna Bligh has previously announced that altruistic surrogacy will be decriminalised, although commercial surrogacy will remain illegal.

Ms Bligh has told Parliament the new laws will be in place by the end of the year.

"I can advise the House that same-sex parents will be included among those who will be affected by the decriminalisation of surrogacy, because everyone - regardless of their sexual status or their gender - should be afforded the privileges of parenthood," she said.

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Courier Mail – “Same sex couples to be allowed to have surrogate children” by Steven Wardill

SAME sex couples in Queensland will be allowed to become parents through altruistic surrogacy, Premier Anna Bligh has told parliament.

Ms Bligh this morning announced her government would legalise altruistic surrogacy for all Queenslanders, including same sex couples.

Queensland is one of the few jurisdictions where altrusitic surrogacy - where no money changes hands - remains illegal.

Miss Bligh told parliament the new laws would ensure children born through surrogacy would have the same rights as every child.

``We will do this because each and every Queenslander who wants to be a parent should be allowed the opportunity to do so,'' Ms Bligh said.
``Anyone who is unable to conceive a baby but who wants to become a parent should know the joy of bringing a child into the world, providing them with life lessons, shaping their future and guiding them into adulthood.''

"At the end of the day, we want every child to be raised in a nurturing environment," she said.

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The Australian – “Couple must battle to adopt their own son” by Caroline Overington

This article which appeared in today’s Australian illustrates the issues of who is the legal parent in the cases of Surrogacy.  It has particular relevance to same-sex parents.

A SYDNEY couple will have to apply to the NSW Supreme Court for permission to adopt their own son, after the Family Court found that, in the eyes of the law, he was not theirs.

Judge Garry Watts last week ruled that the boy's biological mother -- the woman who provided the egg and has raised him since birth -- is legally his stepsister, while his biological father -- who provided the sperm and has likewise raised him since birth, is legally his stepbrother-in-law.

The court ruled that the boy's mother is the woman who carried him in her womb: that is, his grandmother. His father, at least in the legal sense, is his grandmother's de facto, a man named Clive, who has no biological connection to him.

Justice Watts admitted that these results were "surprising" to all parties but came about because surrogacy law in NSW hadn't kept pace with science.

The issue last made headlines in 2006, when Senator Stephen Conroy announced that he and his wife had travelled from Victoria to NSW to enter into a surrogacy arrangement with a host mother, using sperm from Senator Conroy and an egg donated by a family friend.

It cost the Conroys about $50,000 to "adopt" their daughter from the surrogate mother, who had no genetic link to the child.

Victorian law has since been changed to make altruistic surrogacy arrangements legal, although commercial surrogacy remains banned. Couples must still adopt the children resulting from these arrangements, but this has become simpler in Victoria, WA and the ACT.

By comparison, there is no clear law on surrogacy in NSW, which meant the judge had to deal with the latest case, known as "Re: Michael" under the existing Family Law Act.

The case involved a couple, known in court documents only as Sharon and Paul, who were unable to conceive because Sharon had been treated for cervical cancer. Before having treatment that rendered her infertile, Sharon had her eggs harvested and stored. One of these eggs was later mixed with Paul's sperm, creating an embryo.

Sharon's mother, Lauren, offered to carry the embryo for her daughter. The child, known as Michael, was born in October 2008.

Immediately after birth, Lauren handed the baby to Sharon and Paul, and they've been raising him ever since. The couple listed Paul as the father on the birth certificate, since he provided the sperm, while Lauren (his grandmother) had to be listed as the mother, since she gave birth.

Sharon and Paul went to court in April, mainly to see if Sharon could formally adopt Michael.

To the family's surprise, Justice Watts ruled on August 3 that not only was Sharon not the mother, but Paul wasn't the father.

Under Section 60 (H) of the Family Law Act, couples who undergo artificial conception, using donated sperm or eggs are the legal parents of the children they conceive, regardless of whether they use their own sperm and eggs.

A wife who undergoes assisted conception is the mother, even if it isn't her egg, and her husband is the father, even if it isn't his sperm.

Therefore, when Lauren gave birth to her grandson, she automatically became the legal mother of Michael, whereas Sharon was merely the egg donor.

The surprise was that Lauren's de facto partner, Clive, legally became the father.

Associate Professor Anita Stuhmcke of the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology, Sydney, said a national review of surrogacy law, prompted by Senator Conroy's case, had apparently stalled, in part because the issues were so tricky, but also because surrogacy law never gained enough attention to become a national priority.

"A national approach is needed but it never seems to get off the ground," she said.

[Link: Original Article]

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Herald Sun - “AMA head Dr Andrew Pesce in IVF row” by Eleni Hale

THE new head of the Australian Medical Association has said single women and gay couples should not have access to IVF.

Dr Andrew Pesce, elected AMA federal president in May, told the Sunday Herald Sun that IVF should not be a "lifestyle choice" and use of the treatment by same sex couples went against the "natural order".

"Fertility treatment is there to treat diseases that cause infertility, it shouldn't be there as a lifestyle choice," Dr Pesce said.
"For example, single women (who choose IVF) don't have a disease, they just don't have a partner. Same-sex couples, they don't have disease but they are using an option that gets around the natural order of things."

Dr Pesce later contacted this newspaper and said his comments were "clumsy" and a mistake.

He said single women and same sex couples should have access to IVF, but could not give a reason for his earlier remarks.
The comments have thrown the AMA into crisis, with former president Dr Kerryn Phelps saying Dr Pesce's views were "not rational".

Equal rights campaigners called for his resignation, saying his comments were out of the "stone age".

"If male/female couples (receiving IVF treatment) followed the 'natural order' of things then they would remain childless," Dr Phelps said.

"It is not rational to say that IVF is not there as a lifestyle choice, it is a lifestyle choice. This is not AMA policy because AMA policy is non-discrimination."

Gay and Lesbian Lobby Group convenor Emily Gray called for Dr Pesce to resign immediately.

"He shouldn't be holding a position of responsibility if he's going to discriminate against (same-sex couples') entitlement to the same medical treatment as everyone else," Ms Gray said.

"He needs to open up his eyes and get with the times."

Monash IVF director Dr Lynn Burmeister said fertility treatments should be available to everyone.

"I don't agree with that view, it's discrimination, everyone has an equal right to access treatment," Dr Burmeister said.

Last year the Victorian Parliament granted lesbian couples and single women access to fertility treatment under the controversial Assisted Reproductive Treatment Bill.

[Link: Original Article]

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