Makg Babi the Gay Way[29/01/2004] (2004) | BFI

Contents:

• GROWG 'TWO-MOM' APPROACH TO MAKG BABI LETS GAY UPL SHARE BLOGIL ROL
• MAKG BABI THE GAY WAY
• MAKG BABI THE GAY WAY
• MAKG BABI THE GAY WAY
• ‘I AM GAY – BUT I WASN’T BORN THIS WAY’
• GAY MEN: HOW TO HAVE A BLOGIL CHILD
• CAN TWO MEN HAVE A BABY? GAY PARENTG OPTNS
• FOR GAY MEN, HAVG A BLOGIL CHILD N BE PLITED

GROWG 'TWO-MOM' APPROACH TO MAKG BABI LETS GAY UPL SHARE BLOGIL ROL

S., "there is greater awarens and acceptabily" of same-sex relatnships, and "ls prejudice has allowed them to look at what their optns are" for havg children, he 65 gay women and 275 gay men or gay upl have been treated at his clics the last year, and doctors there report that "there seems to be an crease over the past uple of years, " he the Canadian study, doctors om the CReATe Fertily Center and the Universy of Toronto checked patient rerds for the last 17 years and found that the percentage of women same-sex relatnships g the center's donor sperm rose om 15 percent before gay marriage was legalized 2003 to 20 percent after the change.

Technologil advanc, together wh chang the law and social attus, mean that more and more gay and lbian upl are fdg a way to have a fay. The gay pri or simply pri mpaign has three ma premis: that people should be proud of their sexual orientatn and genr inty, that sexual diversy is a gift, and that sexual orientatn and genr inty are herent and nnot be tentnally altered.

Symbols of gay pri clu the Rabow lored flag, Greek lambda symbol, and also the pk and black triangl (You n see the logos on our homepage).

MAKG BABI THE GAY WAY

In the Uned Stat, 1 10 gay men intify themselv as fathers, and acrdg to the 2000 US Cens Report, one five gay male upl have children unr 18 years of age livg their hoeholds. Some gay men and women had children when they were prev heterosexual relatnships but a growg number of gay upl are now choosg to start a fay together.

The growg trend among gay male upl toward planng fai together follows the wake of the so-lled lbian baby boom and at a time when all same-sex upl are creasgly stgglg for equal rights, cludg the right to marry and have children. Common ncerns are that children of gay men will be stigmatized, that children of homosexual fathers are more likely to bee homosexual themselv, and that gay mal are likely to be sexual predators who may molt their own children.

Although rearch has largely discreded those prejudic, the prenceived notns neverthels rema and may be one reason that some fertily programs appear reluctant to rpond to appeals om gay men to achieve fatherhood through assisted reproductn. It is notable that a recent survey of ART programs the Uned Stat found that fertily centers routely accept lbians but are ls likely to accept gay mal as patients, spe the support for nondiscrimatn gay and lbian parentg by such proment mastream anizatns as the Child Welfare League of Ameri, the Amerin Amy of Pediatrics, the Amerin Amy of Fay Physicians, the Amerin Psychiatric Associatn, the Amerin Psychologil Associatn, the.

MAKG BABI THE GAY WAY

Ined, the Ethics Commtee of the Amerin Society for Reproductive Medice recently published a statement support of fertily treatment for gays, lbians, and unmarried persons. “We’re straights, we’ve got our one child, we’ve got pets, we own a hoe, we’ve got rs — and we jt also happen to have been a surrogate and a sperm donor for gay and lbian fai. A few months after that, Joplg offered to bee surrogate mother for the child their gay iends Ottawa, Michael Manci and Ernst Hupel, were hopg for.

Stiller, 34, a homemaker om the Dallas, Texas, suburbs, lik to say that the number of gay people her acquatance before she met Friedman, a psychiatrist, and Wellisch, an ternist, amounted to zero.

“Everythg I knew about gay people I knew om TV, which meant that everythg I knew about gay people I learned om ‘Will & Grace’ and ‘The L Word, ”‘ she said. ) In her cisn to work wh them, Stiller is part of a small but growg movement of surrogate mothers choosg gay upl over tradnal fai.

MAKG BABI THE GAY WAY

As legislatur bate givg gay upl the right to marry – hundreds of upl are fdg ways to create fai wh or whout marriage through surrogat like Stiller, who are willg to help them have children geilly lked to them and to bypass the often difficult legal challeng gay men face adoptn.

John Weltman, a Boston lawyer, had a challengg time fdg women to rry children for gay men when he found Circle Surrogacy a ago. Today, he said, 80 percent of the surrogate mothers who e to him say they would be willg to work wh gay upl, and half prefer to work wh gay upl.

In Los Angel, Growg Generatns, a pany formed to help gay upl bee parents through egg donatn and surrogacy, is rponsible for more than 300 births, creasg om four births 1998 to 108 wh the last 17 months Dawn Buras, a Baltimore mother of four, has been to a fertily clic Los Angel three tim to receive embryonic transplants for a male uple Boston. From the current lerature, we know a great al about the psychologil well-beg of lbian mothers and their children— offsprg planned and nceived through assisted reproductn (20–24)—but there are as yet no studi of gay fathers utilizg ART to create a fay. The existg lerature on gay fatherhood is rived om studi of children who were born wh a heterosexual marriage and whose fathers later intified themselv as gay.

‘I AM GAY – BUT I WASN’T BORN THIS WAY’

Although the vtigators found no differenc between groups terms of timacy and volvement wh their children, there were signifint differenc between gay and non-gay fathers terms of lim settg, rponsivens, and reasong guidance.

Gay fathers were more nsistent about settg and enforcg lims on their children’s behavr, and gay fathers tend to be more rponsive to their children’s needs.

GAY MEN: HOW TO HAVE A BLOGIL CHILD

Most studi noted that gay fathers reported that their children appeared to have normal social relatnships wh their peers and found ltle e for ncern about stigmatizatn rultg om fathers’ homosexualy. In terms of genr inty and sexual preference, children of gay fathers appear to fall wh normal lims and are not more likely to be homosexual then children reared by heterosexual fathers.

Future rearch I’m sure, will addrs the experience of gay male upl, and of their children who are planned and nceived through assisted reproductn.

CAN TWO MEN HAVE A BABY? GAY PARENTG OPTNS

For the prent, although anecdotal and media reports reveal that some programs cludg ours, have weled gay men to their fertily practic. Gay male upl creasgly are g to the ncln that their homosexualy need not prevent them om beg fathers and planng a fay together.

The gay-father fai serve the same attentn (and lack of discrimatn) their re that other upl, lbian and heterosexual, receive fertily centers around the globe. The whole thg seems like a circ where the viewg public don't actually learn anythg except to see more stereotypil gay men actg provactively (i. I watched too and didnt like the ments om the general public sayg was wrong for gay people to be parents and that the child would grow up to be gay etc.

I missed the programme- but I have to state my pot here that I am gay myself, but unlike Jez, I don't agree wh gay people adoptg a child.

FOR GAY MEN, HAVG A BLOGIL CHILD N BE PLITED

I'm not on a 'gay jtice' missn, I am not like that at all and the thgs never bother me but unlike most of C4's very balanced, objective and rmative docs, this was more like a eak show by nature of s feedg of the gay stereotyp. No, seemed like tool to e to somehow unrme their fence and purvey the crap the kids shouldn't be brought up "promiscuo"* gay r'ships.