Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Parented Families

Prepared for the Australian Psychological Society by Elizabeth Short, Damien W. Riggs, Amaryll Perlesz, Rhonda Brown & Graeme Kane

Overview

This review provides an overview and summary of the main bodies of research about parenting by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)1 people, as well as relevant information about the wider family studies field within which this research is situated, and background information on the Australian context. This review will assist psychologists to provide effective and appropriate services to people in such families. The review will also assist psychologists in contributing, where appropriate, to public debates in relation to legal and public policy reform of the type that has occurred extensively over the last five years in Australia (for example, about which family relationships should be recognised in law, and who should be able to access fertility services or adopt children), and which can be expected to continue into the future. Given the importance of psychologists promoting accurate understandings of scientific research, a primary focus of this review is the role that psychological research can play in such debates, and the contribution of psychologists to promoting well-being for children, parents, families
and the general community.

As detailed in this review, the family studies literature indicates that it is family processes (such as the quality of parenting and relationships within the family) that contribute to determining children's well-being and 'outcomes', rather than family structures, per se, such as the number, gender, sexuality and co-habitation status of parents. The research indicates that parenting practices and children's outcomes in families parented by lesbian and gay parents are likely to be at least as favourable as those in families of heterosexual parents, despite the reality that considerable legal discrimination and inequity remain significant challenges for these families. The Australian Psychological Society (APS) is committed to contributing the knowledge of psychology in the public interest, and to fostering a social environment in which all children and their families experience support, recognition, and are valued, and in which discrimination and prejudice have no place.

[Link: Original Document]

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Update - Centrelink recognises same-sex relationships from 1 July 2009

The Australian Government passed wide-ranging reforms that recognise all couples, regardless of the sexual orientation gender of partners.

From 1 July 2009 changes to legislation will mean that customers who are in a same-sex de facto relationship will be recognised as partnered for Centrelink purposes. All customers who are assessed as being a member of a couple will have their rate of payment calculated in the same way.

Questions and answers:

* Who will be affected by these changes?
* When will the changes be implemented?
* What do I have to do?
* How could my payment change?
* What else should I know?
* More information
* Factsheets and publications
* Other government changes
* Can I be sure that my relationship status will remain private?
* Reviews and appeals
* Case studies
* Useful links

To find out more click here.

[Link: Source Document]

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MCV - "Gay dads seek surrogacy rights" by Rachel Cook

A proposal that seeks to align state and federal surrogacy laws has been released for public consultation and submissions.

The paper titled, A Proposal for a National Model to harmonise regulation of Surrogacy was released by the National Standing Committee of Attorney Generals (SCAG) and the ministerial councils for Community Services and Health. GLBT activists have welcomed the move.

Corey Irlam, spokesperson for the Australian Coalition for Equality told MCV:

“We are cautiously optimistic that this provides an opportunity for the states to become equal and to update their laws to access surrogacy.

“Surrogacy is a state-based issue and the federal government has said they will acknowledge any state based surrogacy laws,” Irlam said.

The paper makes several recommendations that would benefit same-sex and heterosexual couples.

If the recommendations were successful, both partners in a gay male couple would be recognised as parents of the child.

Currently in Victoria, the non-biological partner in a gay couple is not seen as a legal parent.

“Without the ability for the non-biological parent to adopt as a second parent, gay men who are entering into a surrogacy arrangement will be unable to both be seen as the legal parents of the child,” Irlam said.

“The Victorian Law Reform Commission recommended that adoption would be addressed and the government have not acted upon this.”

Currently, the non-biological parent in a gay male couple has to apply for a parenting order from the Family Court to have any legal parenting rights.

Co-moderator of Gay Dads Australia Rodney Cruise told MCV parenting orders give non-biological fathers most of the rights as a parent.

“He can apply for a passport for the child, enrol the child in school and make medical decisions. It’s still not a full parent situation, but it’s the closest thing we have in Victoria.”

Cruise said lesbian couples have long been accessing parenting orders and gay men are following in their footsteps.

“Gay dads are exercising the same process and have had success, there has been no problems getting them.”

However, Cruise warned that obtaining a parenting order is an expensive course of action.

“It involves lawyers and that can be a costly process, whereas the Holy Grail for gay dads is what’s called second parent adoption, which would allow the non-biological father to adopt their partner’s biological child and become a full parent.

“With second parent adoption you are a parent for life, unlike a parenting order which only lasts till the child is 18. So this impacts on inheritance and other issues too.”

In December 2008 the Assisted Reproductive Treatment (ART) Bill narrowly passed. Part of the legislative reform will secure the non-biological parent in a lesbian couple to now be recognised as a legal parent.

“There was a recognition that we had to get lesbian families over the line first,” Cruise said.

“Without that parliament would not have considered two men as parents.

“The next logical step is for the community and government to get their head around gay males.”

Federal Attorney-General Robert McClellend said the laws should make it easier for surrogacy couples.

“The differing laws on this complex and sensitive issue often force prospective parents to enter another Australian state or territory to have surrogate children.” McClellend said.

[Link: Original Article]

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Sydney Star Observer - "What is a Dad?" by John Meyer

I joined Gay Dads NSW a week or so ago and have found another land of similarity to feel like home in.

What piqued my interest from their website was a survey asking 421 men their background interest in joining the group. The top three responses were: 31 percent have children from a previous relationship (that’s me), 35 percent were interested in exploring their options in being parents and 11 percent were surrogates.

So I sent the group an email introducing myself and received a few responses from men in the same boat. Just to see the words in front of me to made me feel included and part of a group. I even found a response from another dad in the same company I work in.

There are social nights to attend, afternoons in children’s parks, zoo trips and I’m sure the odd bbq. Meeting people with young children like my two mini men will be a long sought-after dream.

Sometimes you forget how tough it is without comparing notes with someone — someone in the same size shoe.

My Troppo playmate has children, three of them, all grown up. Comparing notes sometimes is difficult because of the age gap. Fact is, I’m nearly closer to his daughter’s age than to his.

Last weekend, we took his youngest son and his girlfriend out for dinner in Newtown. We clasped fingers as we strolled down King St and noticed some shiny rings in a shop window. We skipped in and minced around for nearly half an hour trying on the most ridiculous rings.

I don’t know how the kids felt watching dad and his mate trying gawdy rings on, but it was so funny and in the end, they joined in too.

I looked up ‘dad’ in the little Oxford Dictionary I have on my desk and it led me to ‘father’ and then to ‘parent’. In the circle of words it allows for born offspring and otherwise, adopted, surrogates et al.

In my book, a dad is a man who is blessed and tasked with a precious person to raise, love, guide and every now and then embarrass by trying on costume jewellery after dinner.
[Link: Original Article]

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The Age - "Warning to couples on Indian surrogacy laws" by Matt Wade

LAWYERS and doctors involved in India's giant fertility industry have warned couples hoping to pursue surrogacy in India that the process is risky because there is no comprehensive law covering the practice.

While surrogacy is legal in India, it is regulated only by guidelines issued by the Indian Council of Medical Research, and many industry participants say these guidelines have been left behind by the rapidly expanding surrogacy industry.

The Age reported on Saturday that about 30 Australian couples were pursuing surrogacy in India. A new Indian surrogacy law is being drafted but those involved say it may not be passed for some time.

Priya Hingorani, a prominent Delhi lawyer who is part of a ministerial committee reviewing the proposed laws, says the absence of a law means couples wanting to use surrogates in India might be vulnerable.

"They are taking a risk because some of the documents that they sign ensuring that the mother will hand over the child might not be deemed legal by the courts," Ms Hingorani said. "They need to be very careful."

She cites the case of a Canadian couple who paid for an Indian surrogate but the mother refused to give up the child after the birth. The case is now before a Delhi court.

Anand Kumar, who runs a fertility clinic and is a member of the expert committee drafting the new law, said tighter regulations were urgently needed.

"It's a bit of a free-for-all at the moment and everyone seems to be doing what they wish," Dr Kumar said.

"There is a possibility of new technologies being misused and there is cause for concern." He could not say when the proposed law would be passed.

Many women's groups in India have expressed concern about the surrogacy system, saying it leaves mothers and babies vulnerable to exploitation.

Ms Hingorani said it was possible the new law could introduce restrictions that might affect foreigners hoping to use surrogate mothers in India.

"I think it is going to be more difficult (after the law is passed)," she said.

India's booming surrogacy industry is estimated to be worth more than $500 million a year.

According to the National Commission for Women, there are about 3000 clinics offering surrogacy services across India.

There were cases where surrogate mothers received as little as 25,000 rupees ($A780), the commission said.

Some of the potential complications associated with international surrogacy were highlighted last year by the case of Baby Manji, a child born to an Indian surrogate mother hired by a Japanese couple.

The couple divorced during the pregnancy and a subsequent legal wrangle left the baby in limbo for more than a month. An Indian court eventually granted custody to the child's 74-year-old grandmother.

In Australia, the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General is reviewing surrogacy regulations, including the issue of Australian couples pursuing surrogacy in developing countries such as India.

[Link: Original Article]

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Australian Gay and Lesbian Law Blog - "NZ Surrogate Required to Pay Child Support" by Stephen Page

What is shown time and time again is that in the surrogacy debate the law is way behind what is happening in people's lives.

Fairfax reports that a gay Queensland couple applied to the Federal government for benefits, including presumably the baby bonus. The only problem was that their child was born via a surrogate in New Zealand. Because the father is receiving Centrelink, and can identify the mother, the Child Support Agency has written to her demanding that she pay child support. The birth mother is still liable to pay, because while surrogacy is not illegal in New Zealand, unlike Queensland, there has not been an adoption.

This case is yet another example of the need for people to get good legal advice before seeking surrogacy arrangements, or IVF arrangements that are not through a clinic.

It would also appear that the gay couple, who presumably are usually Queensland residents, have committed offences in Queensland under the Surrogate Parenthood Act 1988. This is because they entered into a surrogacy arrangement. Where that arrangement happened is irrelevant in the eyes of Queensland law.

[Link: Original Article]

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GayNZ.com - "NZ surrogate's Aussie child support row"

The Australian Government is demanding a Kiwi surrogate mother pay child support for the baby girl she had for a gay couple in Queensland, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

Child support: NZ surrogates may be forced to pay Aussie child support

The one-year-old is being raised by her legal guardians - her biological father and his male partner. They gained child support benefits for the father to stay at home and care for her, but the authorities asked the surrogate to contribute, which she refused to do.

The case highlights legal difficulties around surrogacy, which is outlawed in Queensland and some other parts of Australia, but allowed in New Zealand.

Family law expert Professor Mark Henaghan at Otago University confirms that surrogates can be forced to pay Australian child support if their babies were not legally adopted and the intended parents claimed benefits.

"It's a blanket rule. The circumstances are irrelevant. If you are a parent, unless someone adopts a child, you are the legal parent," he explains.

Gay male couples are unable to adopt in New Zealand and in most of Australia, which means the surrogate mother's name remains on birth certificates, preventing them from signing away legal rights to the child.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Star-Times has spoken to another Kiwi woman who will soon give birth to a child for a gay male Australian couple.

The 35-year-old Aucklander admitted she'd had some negative remarks from people, but is happy with her choice: "My father's a bit reluctant I'm having a baby for a gay couple. I didn't choose a gay couple, but I had to find the right couple and they were the ones for me."

[Link: Original Article]

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