The Age - "UK vote marks parenthood victory for gays" by Paola Totaro

BRITAIN has forged landmark new rights for homosexual partners seeking legal recognition as parents.

The House of Commons unexpectedly threw out proposals that would have required fertility clinics to consider a child's "need for a father" before providing treatment, enabling two-mother families.

The father's role will now be substituted to require the "need for supportive parenting". Both partners will be recognised as parents on birth certificates when lesbian couples conceive with donated sperm or gay men use surrogacy to have a child.

At present, as occurs in Australia, only the natural mother or father is automatically considered to be a parent when homosexual couples have fertility treatment.

The changes will be made to the controversial Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, which governs stem cell research as well as fertility treatments and abortion in Britain.

Proposed "pro-family" amendments, including a Conservative bid to lower the abortion limit from 24 weeks to 22 weeks, were defeated by a large margin, surprising the Labour Government, which had been prepared, publicly and privately, for a major defeat.

The attempt to ensure the legal need for a father in fertility treatment was rejected by 292 votes to 217, a majority of 75.

The conscience vote on homosexual partners has been hailed as the most important widening of homosexual rights to family since gays were allowed to adopt children.

Fertility clinics will now be banned from refusing lesbian or single women treatment if they cannot provide a male paternal model. This reason has often been used by clinics who refuse treatment to lesbian or single women.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, said it was "wrong to pass a law" where biological parenthood was not recognised, "because clearly there must be a father for a child".

Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, who led opposition to the plans, told MPs: "On the whole, the absence of fathers generally has a detrimental effect on the child."

Supporters of the new law argued that existing laws discriminated against gay couples.

Health Minister Dawn Primarolo described the changes as fair and said they were drafted to recognise the complexities of modern British life. "What counts is the quality of parenting," she said.

The vote is a further fillip for Labour, which had a major win on stem cell research on Monday when Britain became the first Western nation to allow the mixing of human and animal cells in stem cell research as well as the creation of so-called "saviour siblings" who can be screened for life-saving tissue donations for sick family members.

The Victorian Government announced in December last year that a similar law to the latest British changes was part of a reform to in vitro fertilisation and surrogacy. The new law will recognise the female partner of a mother who conceives a child using IVF, as a legal parent of that child. Legislation is being drafted and due to be ready in a few months.

With TELEGRAPH, NICK MILLER

[Link: Original Article]

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Sydney Morning Herald - "Father to go from birth certificates" by Heath Gilmore

A CONTROVERSIAL new bill that will remove the word "father" from birth certificates to recognise lesbian couples who have children through IVF will be put before NSW Parliament.

Fifty laws across NSW covering the Local Government Act, Industrial Relations Act and the constitution will be amended to include new parental presumption protection for female same-sex couples.

The bill equates the position of a lesbian partner of a woman who has a child after becoming pregnant by a fertilisation procedure, other than sexual intercourse, with the position of a married woman's husband. Lesbian parents will see expressions such as "birth mother" replace "mother" and "both parents" to replace "the father and the mother" on birth certificates.

Lesbian parents will also be given protection for their children under workers' compensation, inheritance law and parent-teacher nights at school. Schools will also be forced to recognise both partners in a lesbian couple as "parents".

However, a number of NSW Coalition MPs have deep moral concerns about the bill. On Tuesday the Coalition voted to give members a conscience vote on the issue. Shadow Attorney-General Greg Smith said some MPs were concerned that the role of fatherhood was undermined by the bill, which is expected to be debated this parliamentary session. It is understood Mr Smith proposed the conscience vote.

Minister for Women Verity Firth said the Opposition's decision to hold a conscience vote on laws to give equal rights to the children of same-sex couples was evidence of the Opposition's lack of leadership.

The conservative Australian Family Association is campaigning against the change.

Gay & Lesbian Rights Lobby spokeswoman Emily Gray said the changes would give children added emotional and financial stability.

[Link: Original Article]

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Alternative Law Journal - "Recognising Same Sex Parents - Bringing Legitimacy to Law" by John Tobin

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Melbourne Community Voice - "Who's your mummy?" by Anna Whitelaw

Anna Whitelaw looks at the issue of parental rights for lesbian couples.

Last year, the State Government agreed to throw out its outdated laws governing assisted reproductive technology and surrogacy. Simultaneously, it moved to rectify the uncertain legal position of lesbian parents: specifically, the status of the non-birth mother.

The decision has brought peace of mind to lesbian couples like Jeanine, 38, a marketing executive, and her partner of ten years, Lisa, 39, who works in the police force.

Lisa and Jeanine have two children, boisterous four-year-old son Liam and five-month-old daughter Meg, both conceived by IVF. Under existing Victorian law, Lisa is not legally recognised as the parent of either of the children, because she is not their biological mother. Her name does not appear anywhere on her children’s birth certificates, and she has no legal authority to give consent to emergency medical procedures, or to enrol her son into childcare or school. If she were to die suddenly, her children would not necessarily be entitled to inherit her superannuation, her estate, or compensation payments.

If Jeanine and Lisa were to separate, she could lose custody of the children; or alternatively, avoid paying child support. By contrast, if she were a man, she would be automatically treated as the father of the two children.

“You start to think more about your own mortality once you have children,” says Jeanine. “After I had Liam, I began to think, ‘If something happened to me, if I was in a car accident, and in a coma, or dead what would happen to him?’ Lisa would have to face all these questions about who she was.”

“Not to mention [that] having to explain yourself everywhere you go gets a little tedious,” Lisa adds, as when she started picking up Liam from childcare while Jeanine was at work. “I had to sign something, and I was asked, ‘Are you the nanny?’”

If a lesbian couple use the sperm of a known donor, such as a male friend, the donor is legally considered to be the father. In at least once instance in Australia, Family Courts have been willing to grant the sperm donor the custody rights. Jeanine and Lisa purposefully used an anonymous donor because they were afraid of the consequences.

“We both have brothers, so we didn’t feel we needed an additional male influence in our kids’ lives,” explains Jeanine. “We didn’t want to complicate the situation, and the legal uncertainty made us nervous.”

To date, the only protection offered to non-biological mothers is a parenting order issued by the Family Court granting limited parental rights. But parenting orders are not automatic, so a couple must petition the Court, and pay hefty legal costs; an addition financial burden for same-sex couples. In the case of Jeanine and Lisa, parenting orders for Liam cost $4000, and they’re in the process of getting parenting orders for Meg, which will cost another $2500.

Moreover, parenting orders are not the same as being a legal parent, as they only apply in limited circumstances, they can be contested, and they expire when the child turns 18.

“There are many legal boundaries to the non-biological parent in rainbow families being recognized as a legal parent, so children living in rainbow families aren’t given the same protection as heterosexually-parented children,” explains Rainbow Families Council spokesperson Felicity Marlowe.

Under Victoria’s proposed law reforms, lesbian couples will be given the same parental rights as heterosexual couples, recognizing both women as parents from the moment of conception, irrespective of who gives birth to the child. It will also clarify that sperm and egg donors are not parents.

For Jeanine, Lisa and their children, it’s recognition which is long overdue.

“It is a concern for Lisa,” Jeanine says, “It irks her that she isn’t on the birth certificate, and there’s a big gaping hole where the father’s name should be. This will give us formal recognition that [Lisa] is part of the family.”

A spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office, Meaghan Shaw, confirmed that the proposed law reforms are currently being drafted, and are expected to be introduced to state Parliament in the middle of the year.

While the legislation is expected to pass both Houses with the backing of the Greens, the Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby’s Demetra Giannakopoulos warns that the reforms will face opposition from the conservative Christian right.

“The whole gay and lesbian community needs to get behind these reforms, because that opposition is only going to get louder,” Giannakopoulos told MCV.

While the reforms are clearly important for lesbian couples who have or who are planning to have children, the social changes such law reforms represent have ramifications for us all, Giannakopoulos believes. As she sees it: “Every time a wall of discrimination comes down, it brings us closer to full equality.”

[Link: Original Article]

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The Age - "Surrogate mothers fulfilling gay men's parenthood dreams"

An ever-growing number of gay couples are paying tens of thousands of US dollars to have surrogate mothers carry their babies, turning America's concept of traditional family on its head.

It took two women and two men for two-year-old twins Katherine and Connor to come to life.

Their fathers, Michael Eidelman and A.J. Vincent, who have lived together for years, invested love, time and all their savings to build their family in New York's Chelsea neighbourhood.

The eggs were donated by a woman in Washington state and fertilized in vitro with sperm from both men. The fertilized egg was then inserted in the uterus of a woman from Ohio.

Each man is the biological father of one of the twins, who were born in Los Angeles, where the laws are less stringent for same-sex couples.

"I am so glad that we chose that pathway," said Eidelman, a 40-year-old dermatologist.

"It definitely has challenges on a day-to-day basis. You never know what is coming your way," he said. "But, on the other hand, it is more rewarding than any other thing I have done in my life."

To fulfill their dream of parenthood, the couple turned to Circle Surrogacy, a company that helps people find egg donors and host mothers and navigate through the legal and medical insurance process.

"It is a very successful business," said Circle Surrogacy President John Weltman.

"In 12 years we have grown 6,000 percent with no borrowing whatsoever and profit made every month," he said. "We expect to double in the next two and half years."

When the company was launched, 10 percent of its clients were gay couples. Today, 80 percent are same-sex couples from 29 countries.

"Actually, of the 250 or so couples we have helped, all but about four are still together, a less than two percent break up rate, as opposed to the national average of 50 percent," he said.

The "gay baby boom" has made families with two fathers a common sight in New York City's daycare centers and parks, although gay couples legally marry only in one US state, Massachusetts.

"It is not looked at anymore as something so weird or strange," said Sanford Benardo, president of the Northeast Assisted Fertility Group from Boston, Massachusetts.

"More and more people are doing it," said Bernardo, whose company has clients from Asia to the Middle East and Europe. "It is not for celebrities anymore."

The process costs at least 100,000 US dollars, with 25,000 US dollars going to the surrogate mother and between 4,000 and 10,000 US dollars of the egg donor. The rest goes to the agency, medical costs and legal fees.

Coupled with adoption, the number of families with gay parents is growing. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, between one million and nine million children under the age of 18 have same-sex parents today.

Henry, a blue-eyed baby turning two in August, has two fathers -- Christopher Hietikko and Jeffrey Parsons -- both in their 40s. His surrogate mother, a lesbian from California, has been made part of the family.

"We became very close and we still are very close," said Parsons, a psychology professor at Hunter College. "We didn't want to treat it as a business arrangement. We wanted to treat it more like creating a family."

The two men don't know who fathered Henry, but they will take a DNA test once they are ready for a second child to decide who will be the next baby's biological dad.

For their first child, the sperm samples from both men were mixed together to give each an equal chance at becoming the biological father, Parsons said.

The boy was born in California, and the names of both fathers appear on the birth certificate.

The psychologist insists that children born in these 21st-century families are as happy as kids whose parents are a woman and a man.

"The research shows very clearly that what children need the most to strive and survive is a safe, and secure, and loving home," he said.

"It really doesn't matter whether there are two moms in that home, two dads in that home, a single dad, a single mom, whatever, as long as a child knows that he/she is loved and is cared for."

[Link: Original Article]

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Queensland Pride - "Surrogacy Ban Under Review"

Gay male couples in Queensland may legally be able to have a child with a surrogate mother if a review of surrogacy laws bears fruit.

A recent parliamentary issues paper reported that under current law people entering into altruistic surrogacy arrangements face a $7,500 fine or three years' imprisonment.

Altruistic surrogacy is where a woman agrees, for no financial gain, to become pregnant and bear a child for another person or persons.

“The [Investigation into Altruistic Surrogacy] Committee is investigating whether the time has come to decriminalise altruistic surrogacy in Queensland and join with the rest of Australia in managing this issue,” committee chair Linda Lavarch said.

“In 2006-2007, only 14 children were available for adoption in Queensland. Decriminalising altruistic surrogacy may offer some Queenslanders their only hope of having a child.

“The committee understands how strongly some Queensland couples who cannot have children want altruistic surrogacy decriminalised; however, we will give balanced consideration to all views put forward.

“The committee considers the interests of the child as the most important factor here.”

The committee will also consider the conditions and requirements of surrogacy arrangements, legal parentage issues and a child’s right to information about their parental history.

In addition, the committee’s discussion paper notes that adoption in Queensland is currently limited to heterosexual couples and that Queensland law does not currently recognise same-sex parents on birth certificates.

After recent announcements from NSW and Victoria, Queensland and South Australia will also be the only Australian states that do not formally recognise lesbian co-parents.

Action Reform Change Queensland (ARCQ) spokesperson Rodney Goodbun told Queensland Pride the lobby group had held “constructive discussions” with the Queensland Government about recognising same-sex parenting arrangements.

The group will prepare a submission advocating that same-sex couples should have access to surrogacy arrangements and that the Queensland Government must also undertake broader reform on same-sex parenting issues in line with last year's recommendations from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

"It is highly likely that this investigation will flush out all the old homophobic arguments from the Christian right against same-sex parents," Goodbun said.

"But there is now a body of evidence stretching over 25 years demonstrating that children from same-sex parents have the same social outcomes as children from heterosexual parents.

“Kids grow up in all sorts of family arrangements with male and female involvement from parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents and family friends. The argument that children should have a mother and father has been refuted by the evidence that indicates the quality of parenting and family life is was counts.

"Gay and bisexual men, and trans men and women, with an interest in parenting may find that reform in the area of altruistic surrogacy is of particuler interest.

“I urge GLBT people to participate in the investigation by contributing to the ARCQ submission or by writing their own letter expressing your views about same-sex parenting,” Goodbun said.

Submissions close June 13. For a copy of the issues paper and guidelines on how to make a submission, visit the committee’s website at www.parliament.qld.gov.au/surrogacy

[Link: Original Article]

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DNA Magazine - "From Disco to Dribble" by Robbie Fells

The road to gay fatherhood is paved with trials and tribulations. What could possess a gay man to start his own family?

Have you ever thought about what it means to be a man? Have you ever thought about what it means to be a gay man? For many of us, that question lies quietly under the surface, not being faced.

For most, being gay means being raised in a straight world where the social norm is still to get married, have kids and have a beer with your mates – without lusting after the sexy ones. But like all gay men who are brave enough to face up to their sexuality, I had to transcend these social pressures and, as you know, that wasn’t easy.

Living your life beyond the expectations of family, friends and society is a huge hurdle. The challenge for me was how I would reconcile my need to be a dad and have my own family with the fact that this was near impossible given that I had no knowledge of any gay men having children. The essence of being a man, I believe, is an innate need to create a legacy to continue on in the world after you’re gone. The fact that two men cannot reproduce makes me wonder whether gay men are an evolved breed of human that don’t need to reproduce or whether we’re just missing a crucial factor of reproduction. Whatever the answer, I wasn’t going to miss out on the chance of being a dad.

Why? What made me so determined?

I asked my partner this question and he said, for him, there was no difference between straight men and gay men and men that want to father children are men that want to create family structures of their own because of positive experiences in their family of origin.

One of my motivations to be a father was to be a better dad than my own father. I know he did the best he could but, to me, it wasn’t great. This motivation wasn’t a good reason to go and produce a child, though.

Having my own family is a nice side effect of my need to have children, but not the core reason, as is with my partner. I realised, through the discussion, that I wanted to be a father to keep learning about myself. I constantly reflect on how I function as a person during interactions with my kids and the dynamics of my new family. These dynamics have catapulted me into a learning curve that is constantly redefining who I am. My threshold for patience, managing frustration and working with difference has changed. My understanding of how we become who we are as people is becoming deeper as I learn about how children develop. It’s an amazing journey that keeps promising new and exciting chapters.

There was a time when I wondered if I’d become a father to be validated by the straight world. I think this may have had some influence but, like trying to be a better father to my kids than my father was to me, I believe this is not a good enough reason to create another human being.

My partner and I were financially secure before kids. The decision to give up this security was an easy one to make, though. It gave me a chance to relive my childhood experiences and reflect deeply on what they were like compared to my kids’.

I now know the meaning of altruism. Your kids become your unselfish concern. Though I get so much in return, it can’t be true altruism.

If you have a question for Robbie email features@DNAmagazine.com.au.

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