Gay fathers face stigma as parents | Rters

Contents:

• GAY FATHER SURROGACY FAI: RELATNSHIPS WH SURROGAT AND EGG DONORS AND PARENTAL DISCLOSURE OF CHILDREN'S ORIGS
• GAY FATHERS, GOG IT ALONE
• WAS GAY FATHER OF SURROGATE TWS DEFAMED? VGHAN V. WZKE
• ARTICLEITALIAN GAY FATHERS' EXPERIENC OF TRANSNATNAL SURROGACY AND THEIR RELATNSHIP WH THE SURROGATE PRE- AND POST-BIRTH
• THE SURROGACY OPTN: A GENERAL OVERVIEW FOR GAY COUPL
• GAY FATHERS’ MOTIVATNS FOR AND FEELGS ABOUT SURROGACY AS A PATH TO PARENTHOOD
• GAY FATHERS' MOTIVATNS FOR AND FEELGS ABOUT SURROGACY AS A PATH TO PARENTHOOD
• THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS
• GAY FATHERS FACE STIGMA AS PARENTS
• ‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD

GAY FATHER SURROGACY FAI: RELATNSHIPS WH SURROGAT AND EGG DONORS AND PARENTAL DISCLOSURE OF CHILDREN'S ORIGS

Nila Carone and others, Surrogacy fai head by gay men: relatnships wh surrogat and egg donors, fathers’ cisns over disclosure and children’s views on their surrogacy origs, Human Reproductn, Volume 33, Issue 2, Febary 2018, Pag 248–257,. SUMMARY ANSWERMore fai had a relatnship wh the surrogate than the egg donor, and almost all had started to disclose to their children, the majory of whom exprsed limed tert their surrogacy IS KNOWN ALREADYGay fathers tend to report greater ntact wh the surrogate than the egg donor and to disclose only the e of a surrogate (omtg discsn of the egg donor and the rpective fathers’ geic relatedns).

Further, some children belonged to the same fay, and this uld have biased the rults, as the children may have had siar IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGSPrr to this study, the voice of children nceived by gay fathers through surrogacy had not been heard. California or Canada) of the ma ncerns regardg gay father surrogacy fai pertas to the surrogate–child relatnship, as is assumed that the child may view the surrogate as a mother and suffer when there is no relatnship—or one that is limed by physil distance (Golombok, 2015; Lgiardi and Carone, 2016b). In a study of 40 Amerin gay father surrogacy fai (Blake et al., 2016), of whom four ed an anonymo egg donor, only 25% were found to have met the donor after the child’s birth and only 31% had a relatnship wh her; nversely, 83% had met the surrogate and 85% had a relatnship wh her.

GAY FATHERS, GOG IT ALONE

5 years (Blake et al., 2016), 83% of the fathers had started the disclosure procs, though some had not yet mentned the e of donated eggs or disclosed whose sperm had been paper aims at vtigatg the gay father fai’ experienc of surrogacy, addrsg three rearch qutns: What was the nature of the fai’ relatnships wh the surrogate and egg donor? The prent study’s fdgs not only support the view that surrogacy may be easier for children to unrstand than gamete donatn (Readgs et al., 2011) but also that the immediate exposure of children gay father fai to their non-tradnal fay form means that their origs are explaed early and they have more time to tegrate this rmatn.

Third, many fathers reported that their tentn to bee a parent mattered more than geic relatedns, though this fdg stands ntrast to those of studi showg that geic nnectn to the child is greatly valued by gay fathers g surrogacy (Murphy, 2015; Blake et al., 2017; Carone et al., 2017a, 2017b). Contrary to ncerns that the children of gay fathers fd difficult to al wh their origs (Golombok, 2015; Lgiardi and Carone, 2016a), none of the children this study showed negative feelgs towards their nceptn durg middle childhood.

WAS GAY FATHER OF SURROGATE TWS DEFAMED? VGHAN V. WZKE

In le wh prev rearch on gay father surrogacy fai (Greenfeld and Seli, 2011; Smietana et al., 2014; Blake et al., 2016; Carone et al., 2017a; Murphy, 2015), this study found that fathers were more likely to mata a relatnship wh the surrogate than the donor.

ARTICLEITALIAN GAY FATHERS' EXPERIENC OF TRANSNATNAL SURROGACY AND THEIR RELATNSHIP WH THE SURROGATE PRE- AND POST-BIRTH

The fdgs have important implitns for psychologists and fertily unsellors, as they provi an -pth examatn of gay father fai’ experienc of surrogacy, terms of their relatnships wh surrogat and egg donors, fathers’ disclosure cisns, and children’s views on their origs. Introductn to SurrogacyOverview of Gay SurrogacyWhat to Look for a Surrogacy AgencyBeg a Gay ParentTrans ParentgLGBTQ+ Surrogacy LawsSPAR Program for HIV ParentsStartg a Surrogacy JourneyThe Surrogacy ProcsSurrogacy Costs & ProgramsFancial Assistance For SurrogacyFdg an Egg Donor Fdg a Surrogate MotherLGBTQ+ Partnerships and Organizatns. Although surrogacy for heterosexual tend parents and same-sex tend parents is largely siar, there are a few factors that make 's important to unrstand your rights as parents, and what the surrogacy laws are your state or untry, and the state which your surrogate legal procr for gay parentgPre-Birth Orr (PBO): A urt proceedg that tablish parental rights prr to the birth of the child.

Ensurg that your surrogate liv a state which you'll be able to safely and securely tablish your parental rights is ccial for a succsful more about surrogacy and the law for gay parentsSee, and why havg proper legal reprentatn is cril for a succsful journey. Regular munitn also helps tend parents feel fortable wh their surrogate, and feel part of the pregnancy and a gay tend parent, buildg a relatnship wh your surrogate also helps you tell your child their orig story, and giv him/her the opportuny to know the woman who helped create your fay. Concln(s)In gay father surrogacy fai wh young children, relatnships between parents, children, surrogat, and egg donors are generally Words: Children, disclosure, egg donor, gay father, surrogacyIn the Uned Stat is has been timated that between 2 and 3.

Given recent chang marriage equaly the Uned Stat (2) and physicians’ ethil obligatn to treat all persons equally regardls of sexual orientatn (3), the number of gay fathers creatg fai through assisted reproductive technologi is likely to men may choose to bee parents via surrogacy, a procs which a woman bears a child for the tend parent(s). When ntact between gay fathers and surrogat has been found to cease entirely, this has occurred the Indian ntext (11), which socenomic and language barriers, as well as agency polici, do not enurage or facilate ntact between parti (12) gtatnal surrogacy arrangements, parents may select an egg donor wh whom they n have ntact the future (an open-inty donor) or a donor wh whom they will have no ntact (an anonymo donor), although the possibily of achievg anonymy is creasgly doubt (13). First, surrogacy agenci that specialized workg wh gay men sent rmatn about the study to the fathers their mailg list (n = 18, 45%); send, participants passed on rmatn about the study to their iends, lleagu, or acquatanc who f the study creria and/or dissemated rmatn about the study through social media (n = 7, 17.

THE SURROGACY OPTN: A GENERAL OVERVIEW FOR GAY COUPL

Third, most fathers had started the procs of explag their path to parenthood to their children, wh the level of tails and children's unrstandg creasg wh the age of the qualy of the relatnship between gay fathers and their surrogate was generally found to be posive, wh most surrogat havg met the child and other members of the fathers’ fai durg ocsns such as baby showers and weddgs. Regardls of whether donors are tegorized as anonymo, open-inty, or known, the realy of the suatn over time may be different om the one that parents had imaged at the start of the le wh prev rearch on gay father surrogacy fai, fathers were more likely to mata a relatnship wh the surrogate than wh the egg donor 8, 9, 26. Although the egg donor is, for the most part, visible gay father surrogacy fai when children are their prchool or early school years, some fathers had liberately chosen an egg donor wh whom there would be the possibily of ntact, so that their child's qutns might be answered the future.

It is possible, therefore, that ntact wh the egg donor may occur or bee more equent when the child has a better unrstandg of, and cursy about, their study is the first to exame the nature of the relatnship between the children gay father fai and the surrogate and egg donor who participated their nceptn. A variety of recment procr were ed to accs as diverse a sample as possible, although gay father surrogacy fai will most likely be unique terms of e, given the high st of pursug surrogacy as a path to parenthood the Uned Stat (5). Surrogacy agenci across the untry report a surge of tert om sgle gay men the last few Marsh, a spokwoman for Men Havg Babi, a nonprof that helps gay men navigate the surrogacy procs, said that the crease tert om sgle men is part of a broar surge gay fai.

GAY FATHERS’ MOTIVATNS FOR AND FEELGS ABOUT SURROGACY AS A PATH TO PARENTHOOD

Towers stayed Oregon for three more weeks, until the tws were ready for the long flight home to New unpredictable as the medil prospect of surrogacy may be, some gay men prefer that to the possibily of facg discrimatn Williams had his son, Elan, via surrogacy four years ago. In this time, we have seen a substantial rise the number of gay men seekg parenthood outsi their prev heterosexual relatnships via -parentg arrangements, fosterg, adoptn or surrogacy (Bac, Laghi, 2013, Carone et al, 2016, Lgiardi, Carone, 2016a).

Surrogacy arrangements vary nsirably the gree of faiary between the tend parents and the surrogate, who may be a iend, a relative, unknown to the parents before the surrogacy arrangement, or even first child born to gay parents through a surrogacy arrangement was born 1996.

At this time, several agenci (such as Growg Generatns Los Angel) started to offer surrogacy servic specifilly for gay men, enuragg ntact between upl and surrogat and assistg the legal si of ntracts between the volved parti. Although durg 1999 to 2013 an creasg number of US rints ed gtatnal surrogacy cycl – wh a peak 2006 to 2016 om non-US rints (Perks et al., 2016) – those choosg surrogacy as a path to parenthood are still a and practil challeng faced by prospective gay fathers may be relevant to explanatns of this trend. Moreover, the high enomic pal required for expert medil and legal advice before enterg to surrogacy arrangements (Norton et al., 2013), as well as the fact that untri which surrogacy is ls expensive (for stance, India and Thailand) have recently banned gay men om accsg the service, uld have some fluence on their cisn to opt for surrogacy.

GAY FATHERS' MOTIVATNS FOR AND FEELGS ABOUT SURROGACY AS A PATH TO PARENTHOOD

As a rult, Italian gay men wishg to bee parents mt cross borrs ( Wert et al., 2014) and enter to the sphere of the so-lled ‘cross-borr reproductive re’ (Penngs et al., 2008), which almost always volv gtatnal surrogacy (Crock, 2013). In orr to create the ndns for ti of timacy and to guarantee surrogacy children have full accs to their origs, gay fathers may unrtake ‘relatnal work’ (Dempsey, 2015, Zelizer, 2005) wh the surrogate and the egg donor, wrg e-mails, chattg over Skype, textg or sendg postrds (Smietana et al., 2014). In ntrast, studi of gay upl have referred to surrogacy maly wh broar issu of gay male parenthood, such as procreative inty and the transn to parenthood and the procreative inty (Bergman et al, 2010, Berkowz, Marsigl, 2007), the negotiatn of the pregnancy the ntext of mercial surrogacy arrangements (Riggs and Dempsey, 2015), kship, genr and enomic implitns (Dempsey, 2015) and motivatns for seekg transnatnal surrogacy (Crock, 2013).

The specific aspects that make surrogacy different om other paths to parenthood, terms of the relatnship wh surrogat and egg donors and how/if fathers tend to disclose to children their surrogacy origs, have not been extensively addrsed (Blake et al, 2016, Norton et al, 2013) the ntext of prev rearch on transnatnal surrogacy, Ziv and Frnd-Eschar (2015) nducted dividual terviews wh 16 Israeli gay tend fathers who were expectg a child through surrogacy India (seven upl) and the USA (one uple). Further elements that have been found to be salient ensurg posive out for tend fathers the transnatnal surrogacy arrangement are a strong fay support work (Tuazon-McCheyne, 2010) and volvement by surrogacy clics all aspects of the pregnancy (Riggs et al., 2015) regard to egg donors, ongog ntact or close relatnships wh gay fathers have been found to be rare (Murphy, 2015), beyond ial e-mails om the egg donors to rm the fathers about the progrs of the pregnancy (Smietana et al., 2014).

THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS

On the other hand, the egg donor's perceptns and meangs of relatedns wh regard to egg donatn may also be relevant, as the donor rarely shows any particular tert formg a relatnship wh the fay (Almelg, 2014, Graham et al, 2016) procs of selectg a surrogate or egg donor may also impact the relatnships that are tablished: whilst agenci and clics enurage meetgs and ntact wh the surrogate before and throughout the pregnancy, choice of egg donor is ually based on webs or donor talogu, whout direct and personal ntact (Dempsey, 2015, Murphy, 2015) rearch on gay fathers through transnatnal surrogacy arrangements has creasgly broaned s foc (e. Th, a social-nstctnistParticipantsParticipants were reced through snowball samplg wh Rabow Fai, the ma Italian associatn brgg together lbian mothers and gay fathers who plan to have children, and people who support same-sex parentg even if they are not and/or do not want to bee parents. Although was not possible to terme the number of fathersRultsFdgs dite that three terrelated them, emergg as a nsequence of the physil distance om the surrogate and the velopg surrogacy child, n be helpful for unrstandg gay fathers' experience of transnatnal surrogacy and their relatnship wh the surrogate pre- and post-birth.

The three them clu: the perceived loss of ntrol over the pregnancy; the role played by the surrogate facilatg fathers to feel emotnally nnected wh their velopg surrogacyDiscsnThis study is one of the first to foc on gay fathers' experienc of the transnatnal surrogacy procs and their relatnship wh the surrogate pre- and post-birth.

GAY FATHERS FACE STIGMA AS PARENTS

His rearch terts clu child velopment, sexualy, fay relatnships and parentg through donor sematn and MsageThis study provis ep sights to gay fathers' cross-borr surrogacy experienc and highlights the need for appropriate unsellg, notRemend articl (6)Nila Carone obtaed his MSc Dynamic and Clil Psychology 2012.

His rearch terts clu child velopment, sexualy, fay relatnships and parentg through donor sematn and MsageThis study provis ep sights to gay fathers' cross-borr surrogacy experienc and highlights the need for appropriate unsellg, not only by the cross-borr fertily practner, but also the untry of rince to promote rmed cisns before startg surrogacy abroad and to elaborate on potential difficulti related to surrogacy after the child's birth. We were there every step of the way, tg and recg surrogat and egg donors exced to help gay men to bee dads, helpg our tend dads to talk to their kids and their support works about surrogacy, and even creatg solutns for HIV posive men to bee blogil fathers via surrogacy.

‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD

SUMMARY ANSWERMost fathers chose surrogacy bee they nsired adoptn to be a ls sirable and/or accsible path to IS KNOWN ALREADYLtle is known of gay fathers’ motivatns to e surrogacy as a path to parenthood over and above other forms of fay buildg, such as adoptn, and no studi have examed fathers’ satisfactn wh the surrogacy DESIGN, SIZE, DURATIONThis study ed a cross-sectnal sign as part of a larger vtigatn of parent–child relatnships and child adjtment 40 gay father surrogacy fai. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODSemi-stctured terviews, lastg ~1 h, were nducted the fay home (65%) or over Skype (35%) wh 74 gay fathers (35 geic fathers, 32 non-geic fathers and 7 fathers who did not know or did not disclose who the geic father was), when the children were 3–9 years RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCEGeic and non-geic fathers were jt as likely to want to bee parents and had siar motivatns for choosg surrogacy as a path to parenthood. Due to the high average annual e of the fathers the study, fdgs may not generalize to gay fathers wh lower IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGSIt is often assumed that parents’ primary motivatn for g ART is to have a geic nnectn to the child.

Intendg fathers may choose to nceive g gtatnal surrogacy, where an embryo is created g the sperm of one partner and the egg of a donor, which is then transferred to the surrogate, or geic surrogacy, which nceptn occurs g the sperm of one partner and the egg of the is known about the motivatns of gay upl who pursue surrogacy as a path to parenthood. Most gay and lbian adoptive parents choose adoptn as their preferred route to parenthood, ntrast to heterosexual upl who typilly nsir adoptn only after failed attempts at natural and/or assisted reproductn (Jenngs et al., 2014). A study of gay pre-adoptive upl the USA also found that men were ncerned that surrogacy would be challengg due to the logistil and emotnal challeng n entail and nsired this path to parenthood accsible due to s high st (Goldberg et al., 2012) lbian women and heterosexual upl who created their fai g ART, a key motivatn for dog so was the abily to have a geic relatnship wh the child (Ragoné, 1994; Teman, 2010; Goldberg and Scheib, 2015).

The lbian mothers Goldberg and Scheib's (2015) study also had ncerns about the st and the plexy of adoptn, the potential problematic background children may e om and the possibily of enunterg discrimatn and stigma durg the adoptn tendg gay upl have cid on surrogacy as a path to parenthood, they face a cisn as to which father will have a geic nnectn wh the child. Whether fai of orig react siarly to geic fathers (whose parents and siblgs will have a geic nnectn to the child) vers non-geic fathers (whose parents and siblgs will not) is yet to be prent study explored gay fathers’ motivatns for havg a child through surrogacy and the var cisns volved followg this path to parenthood.