Same Same - “Australia’s Surrogacy Pitfalls” by Christian Taylor

News.com.au have reported on a Queensland woman who is acting as a surrogate for her gay brother. The baby she’s carrying was fathered by a third party through artificial insemination, and the gay man plans to raise the baby as a single dad. The baby is due early in 2010 and will know who its biological mother is.

The article reports that the surrogacy is illegal in her home state of Queensland.

“Surrogacy laws in Australia are largely regulated by the states and it varies from state to state,” says gay legal professional Ghassan Kassisieh. “In Queensland, all surrogacy is illegal. In NSW, commercial surrogacy (paying a fee or giving a reward for surrogacy services) will be outlawed when the Assisted Reproductive Technology Act 2007 commences, but altruistic surrogacy (where there is no financial gain or reward involved) will remain legal. Advertising for surrogacy services is also illegal in some states.”

“I understand that my own situation is a little different to what people would normally hear about,” the father to be told News.com.au.

“I guess the other thing that makes my situation a little unique is that I intend to be a sole parent. I am single, and am looking forward to being a single dad.”

Rodney Cruise, a spokesperson for Gay Dads Australia, told News.com.au that there could be hundreds of these kinds of surrogacy pregnancies happening out there, despite the illegality. Cruise says that these arrangements are considered, well-planned and that the man is lucky to have a family member who is willing to do this for him.

Some experts say that such arrangements are unnecessarily breaking the bonds between mother, father and child, and that prospective parents can be faced with children who, down the track, may demand to live with their biological parents.

“Sometimes [children] decide not to get along with their parents with whom they live with because they have leaving options. What if the sister didn’t like the way her brother raised her child? She could legally take the child back.”

“Apart from the legality of surrogacy, the big problem is really after a child is born and determining who are the legal parents,” says Kassisieh. “In most states (including NSW), the surrogate mother (and her partner, if any) will be the legal parents and there are very few avenues for having the child legally recognised as the child of the intended parent(s). This is the case even if the surrogacy arrangement goes to plan and the parties are all in agreement.

“In such states, the best option for the intended parents is a parenting order from the Family Court awarding them parental responsibility, however this does not grant all the rights of full legal parentage. The surrogate mother and her partner, if any, remain as the legal parents to the child (e.g. for inheritance reasons, accident compensation, state and federal-based legal rights etc.) for the remainder of their child’s life.

“In some states (e.g. ACT, Victoria, WA), the intended parents can get a court order in some circumstances transfering the legal parentage from the surrogate mother (and her partner, if any) if the surrogate mother consents. This effectively allows the intended parents to ‘adopt’ their child, if all parties agree, the agreement satisfies the conditions of the law, and the court determines that a parentage order would be in the best interests of the child. In other words, the child is fully recognised as the child of the intended parents – and not the child of anyone else.”

 

[Link: Original Article]

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Channel 7 – Sunrise - “Gay Surrogacy Debate” with Jason Tuazon-McCheyne – Watch Online

From Videos - Public

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Marie Claire Magazine - “What Does Your Family Look Like?” by Alison Tait

From “Families of Friends” to living with the in-laws, our home life has never been more diverse.  Allison Tait talks to seven Australians about the most important people in their lives.

(Ed: One of those couples is Ben Hall and Arthur Thomson and their four children, Brooke, Emma, Aiden and Ashton)

Gay couple Ben and Arthur say having their children through surrogates was difficult – but definitely worth it.

“Arthur and I went to great lengths to have our children – and we love and appreciate them so much.  A year after we met, in 2000, we approached an American agency that matched us with a surrogate and egg donor.  It was the only option; in Australia, single or gay men can’t adopt.

“For three years, we went through the heartache of failed attempts – either the pregnancies didn’t take, or donors pulled out.  It was a stressful, emotional – and expensive – time.  But I believe in chasing what you want.  You only get one shot at life.  We were there, in South Dakota for the birth of the girls, and the experience was sheer happiness.  I was in awe of, and in love with, these babies.

“All our children are biologically the kids of one of us, but we don’t talk about who.  We’d prefer they were viewed as ‘ours’. We’ve never had a negative response to being two gay dads.  Kids at creche have raised it, but our children just say, ‘I’ve got two daddies’.  We’re mindful the girls need female influences, and they spend time with our female friends.  The kids do ask about their mum, and we say they don’t have one; an egg donor is not a mother. We tell them they have two dads – two dads who love them to death”.

[Link: Original Article]

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News.com.au - “Queensland woman impregnated by donor sperm, surrogate for her single gay brother” by Mark Schliebs

A WOMAN is due to give birth to a child for her gay brother after impregnating herself with donor sperm from a third party - an act that is illegal in her home state of Queensland.

At the centre of the startling story, the homosexual man says pregnancy tests taken last month have proven that his sister is carrying what will become his first child.

The man, aged in his mid-twenties, said his older sister, who has two teenage children herself, agreed to carry a child for him earlier this year and became pregnant after being artificially inseminated with another man's sperm.

It is not known if the child, due to be born early next year, will know the identity of its biological mother. It will not have interaction with the biological father.

"I understand that my own situation is a little different to what people would normally hear about," the man told news.com.au in an email.

The siblings declined to be interviewed for this story.

Stephen Page, a partner at Brisbane's Harrington Family Lawyers and an expert on gay and lesbian law issues, said all surrogacy arrangements in Queensland were illegal.

But Mr Page said the only way for the pregnancy to be legal would be if the child would be treated as her own.

In a post on an internet forum in April, the "gay dad-to-be" admitted that his case was "unorthodox".

"I guess the other thing that makes my situation a little unique is that I intend to be a sole parent. I am single, and am looking forward to being a single dad."

He added that he was not opposed to having a partner after the child's birth.

Rodney Cruise, a father of two who heads Gay Dads Australia, said he would like congratulate the Queensland man on his good news.

"I think it's great that the man has a family member so willing to do this," Mr Cruise said.

"(Surrogacy pregnancies) doesn't happen in a backseat of a car after three Bacardi Breezers, these are well planned and well thought-out.

"Who would (a child) rather want: a loving caring gay father… or an alcoholic woman with an abusive drug addicted partner?

"In terms of the legality of (surrogacy), I'm sure that there’s hundreds and hundreds of cases out there."

But Anglican bishop and academic Tom Frame, who was adopted at a young age and believes that he might never know who his biological father is, said the impact on such an arrangement would be overwhelming for a child.

"We've got a child here who will grow up without its biological mother or father," Dr Frame said.

"We are deliberately breaking to bond between the father, the mother and the child. I think if you don't need to do that, don't do it."

Dr Frame said if the child did know its aunt was its biological mother, it could react the same way his own sister - who was also adopted - did and demand to live with her.

"Sometimes (children) decide not to get along with their parents with whom they live with because they have leaving options.

"What if the sister didn't like the way her brother raised her child? She could legally take the child back."

Mr Page said it could be possible for an unmarried person to legally gain custody and guardianship of a child, but adopting it would be difficult.

"(In Queensland) you've got to be married for two years to adopt," Mr Page said. "It actively discriminates against gays and lesbians."

He said an unmarried person could seek a Supreme Court order, but the costs of a trial would be overwhelming.

John Morrissey from the Australian Family Association said the child would be born out of "vanity".

"It's a strange situation," Mr Morrissey said. "It's not giving the kid a normal family.

"He wants to have a baby, the baby doesn't get a say (and) it's not about what the baby wants."

[Link: Original Article]

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Gay Dads on Joy 94.9 – Saturday Magazine – Listen Online

Rodney, Michael and Francisco – 3 Gay Dads talking about their experience on being and becoming Gay Dads on Joy 94.9 – Saturday Magazine – 30 May 2009.  Listen Below.

 

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[Link: Joy 94.9]

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Channel Nine – Sixty Minutes – Two Dads and Two Babies – Video Online

Two dads with twins

Click on the above link to watch Trevor and Peter’s Sixty Minutes story on the birth of their twins via surrogacy in India.

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Brisbane Times - “Nile deal dashes gay adoption plan” by Andrew Clennell

THE Premier, Nathan Rees, is set to dump plans to legalise gay adoption as part of a deal with MP Fred Nile to secure his vote on key legislation in the upper house, Labor sources say.

Mr Nile met the Premier two weeks ago and lobbied for the dumping of plans to legalise adoption by same-sex couples - something the gay community has been fighting for for years.

It was reported two years ago that legislation to allow same-sex couples to adopt was not far away after discussions involving the NSW Attorney-General, John Hatzistergos.

Last year the Community Services Minister, Linda Burney, sent the proposal to a parliamentary inquiry, which is due to report soon.

Mr Rees is said by some to have spoken last year about how he would be prepared to take on the likes of the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, George Pell, on the bill. But now sources say he is backing down. Mr Nile denies he would be part of any "deal" but confirmed discussing the matter with Mr Rees a fortnight ago in the Premier's office at Parliament House.

"I don't know anything officially but we'd be very pleased if it's off the agenda," Mr Nile said.

"I obviously don't support it. We have had a few discussions over the past few months. I have got no guarantee but I am hoping it [dropping the proposal] will occur."

The co-convener of the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, Emily Gray, said gay adoption legislation had already been introduced in Western Australia and there had been other gay law reforms here, so holding up gay adoption legislation would be a case of "politics over equality".

"NSW guaranteed de facto status to same-sex couples in 1999. Last June the Government introduced laws recognising lesbian mothers. We would say the one thing that remains in the way of equality in NSW for same-sex couples and their families is the … adoption laws," Ms Gray said.

Passing the legislation was mostly about benefiting existing couples, she said.

For example, a woman may have a child through artificial insemination and meet a lesbian partner when the child was very young but, under present arrangements, the other woman would not be able to adopt the baby as a parent.

Mr Nile said he had also asked the Premier to agree to 12 private member's bills, including "Nicole's law" - a proposal by Mr Nile to name all pedophiles on an internet site, similar to the infamous "Megan's law" in the United States.

He denied the passage of government bills was discussed.

"I have never made a deal in my life," Mr Nile said.

A Greens MP, Lee Rhiannon, said she had wanted to introduce her own private member's bill two years ago that would have given the green light to gay adoption, but the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby had believed they would be successful with the Government.

"[Mr] Rees should respect the role of the Legislative Council to debate and vote on bills on their merit, rather than do backroom deals with [Mr] Nile," Ms Rhiannon said.

A spokeswoman for Mr Rees said: "The Premier doesn't comment on private meetings but regarding the issue, he has heard a range of views and there's currently a parliamentary inquiry in the upper house [on the matter]."

[Link: Original Article]

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