Gay couple’s baby recognized as German in landmark ruling

Gay couples in Germany have limited rights when it comes to starting a family. But what if a child is born in a country with full same-sex marriage rights? One of Germany’s highest courts has given an answer.

 

The Federal Court of Justice on Wednesday granted German citizenship to a South African child born to lesbian mothers in a major development for LGBT family rights.

The court case centred around a child born in 2010 in South Africa to a lesbian couple – the biological mother was South African while the other mother was German.

lesbian family law

The parents were legally married in South Africa and therefore were automatically recognized equally there as the child’s parents.

But when the mothers went to Germany to register their partnership, authorities in Berlin refused to offer the child German citizenship because the biological mother was foreign.

Children born to at least one German national outside the country are normally considered German citizens within heterosexual pairs.

But unlike heterosexual couples in Germany, same-sex partners cannot marry and therefore any child had or adopted by a pair is not automatically considered the child of both.

The only way that same-sex couples can start a family together is through something called successive adoption – generally one partner adopting the biological child of the other.

The German mother had not done this in her home country.

June 15, 2016

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in In the News / International / Second Parent Adoption / Step Parent Adoption  by Anthony Brown 1 comments

Portuguese president vetoes Portuguese surrogacy law

Portugal’s center-right President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Tuesday vetoed a law authorizing surrogacy in some cases where a couple cannot conceive, quashing Portuguese surrogacy law adopted by parliament in May.

 

LISBON: In a statement, the president’s office said the Portuguese surrogacy law did “not conform to the conditions set out by the National Council for Ethics for the Life Sciences” which had demanded tighter rules on surrogacy.

Parliament had adopted the bill allowing a woman to carry a child for another person or couple in some cases where women cannot conceive, provided the surrogate mother is not paid.international surrogacy

The legislation, which had supporters from across the left-right divide, was adopted by a slim majority, despite opposition from Portugal’s powerful Catholic Church.

The veto does not necessarily spell the end of the road for the campaign to legalize surrogacy.

Under the constitution, parliament can still override a presidential veto to promulgate a law if an absolute majority of all MPs back it.

While quashing the surrogacy law de Sousa gave his seal of approval to legislation giving lesbian couples and single women to have in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

Portugal is not the only European country where surrogacy is prohibited.

France, Germany and Italy prohibit surrogacy, which critics have dubbed “wombs for rent”.

Agence France Presse – June 8, 2016

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Gay couples are becoming reproductive refugees as more countries outlaw surrogacy

The options for becoming parents are narrowing for gay couples as both developed and developing nations increasingly outlaw surrogacy, many becoming reproductive refugees.

Gay couples who need surrogacy to start a family are now reproductive refugees as more and more countries outlaw surrogacy, according to advocacy group Families Through Surrogacy.

With surrogacy criminalized in many Western countries, would-be parents have typically turned to developing nations including Thailand, India and Nepal to find surrogates. But even these countries have, in recent years, closed their doors to international surrogacy. What’s more, countries that do still allow international surrogacy – such as Ukraine, Georgia and Israel – do not extend that offer to same-sex couples.

Sam Everingham, executive director of Australian advocacy group Families Through Surrogacy, told The Atlantic that outlawing reproductive rights for gay couples in their own countries sent them on ‘a constant chase’ across the globe, with more and more countries officially outlawing the practice as time goes on.

According to Doron Mamet, the head of Israeli surrogacy agency Tammuz, surrogacy has become such a political sticking point that it may not be available anywhere within the next ’10 to 15 years’. Interestingly, Mamet points out, while politicians and anti-surrogacy activists are eager to stamp out the practice, ‘The only group that wants it to continue are the people in need and the surrogates.’surrogacy refugees, international surrogacy, gay dads

Why outlaw surrogacy in developed countries?

In Australia, couples found to have practised commercial surrogacy in the country can go to jail for three years.

Australia’s federal government has recently ordered a review of the nation’s surrogacy laws, following high-profile cases of surrogacy gone wrong abroad. The government appears to be in favor of commercial surrogacy remaining illegal in the country, forcing gay parents to fork out huge sums for surrogates in the US, as cheaper options in developing countries dwindle.

UK gay couples find themselves with the same problem, as UK law also criminalizes commercial surrogacy.

In an interview with Gay Star News, the founder of gay parenting blog Gay Dads Australia, Rodney Chiang-Cruise, told of the frustration the gay community felt about criminalization of commercial surrogacy in Australia. He argued that legalizing the process within Australia would help make it ‘a fair, equitable, respectful process for all parties’. See more on that here.

While altruistic surrogacy is legal in Australia, figures from Families Through Surrogacy show that just 35 babies were born through altruistic surrogacy in Australia in 2013. Conversely, more than 400 babies were born to Australians through surrogacy abroad.

The cost of going through the surrogacy process in the US is around AUD $200,000.

GayStarNews.com by Laura Chubb, June 7, 2016

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NBC is first major network to launch an LGBTQ Dedicated Website – NBCout

In what is the first major networks foray into the LGBTQ web market, NBC launched NBCout last week to highlight and feature the stories that inform and entertain our community.

There’s lots of content and interactive components.  Thanks NBC for getting the word out about the LGBTQ community with NBCout!

Here is the letter from the editor announcing the launch:

Welcome to NBC OUT, NBC’s newest digital destination, where we’ll showcase enterprise reporting, original video and other unique content about and of interest to the LGBTQ community.

If there’s one thing everyone in our community can agree on (and there may just be one thing), it is that we are an extraordinarily diverse group. Our acronym may only include a handful of letters, but the variety within each of them is vast. Keeping this in mind, the NBC OUT team is committed to highlighting content that spans the spectrum – from a profile piece about an intersex millennial to an article about cisgender, black gay men in history, and a multimedia report about a Thai immigrant who started a transgender modeling agency.

In order to fulfill our goal of providing quality journalism for our readers and viewers, while also ensuring our stories reflect our incredibly diverse community, we plan to not only leverage the vast news-gathering resources of NBC News, but to also bring in new voices and fresh perspectives from across the LGBTQ spectrum.

I truly believe it will take a village – or better yet, a community – for NBC OUT to reach its full potential. So if you have a story idea, would like to share your feedback with us or just want to follow our latest stories, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

June 2, 2016

Click here to visit NBCout.

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UK’s top family judge declares that UK law should give single parents through surrogacy the same rights as couples

 Sir James Munby, the President of the High Court Family Division, has made a formal declaration that UK law discriminates against single parents with children born through surrogacy and is incompatible with their human rights.

The case concerns a British biological father of a 21 month old boy known as ‘Z’, who was born through a US surrogacy arrangement and lives with his single father in the UK. Last September the High Court ruled that it could not grant our client a UK parental order (the order needed to extinguish the responsibilities of the surrogate and to issue a UK birth certificate for Z), because UK surrogacy law only allows couples, and not single parents, to apply. The court ruled that the US surrogate who carried Z (who lives in the USA, is not his biological mother and has no legal status there) has sole decision-making rights in the UK. Z was made a ward of court, which means the court safeguards his welfare and makes decisions about his care.international second parent adoption, gay parent adoption, Italy, lgbt Italy, glut Italy, gay families, international gay rights

The President of the Family Division has now declared that the law is incompatible with the father’s and the child’s human rights, and discriminates against them. In an unprecedented move, the Secretary of State for Health decided not to oppose the father’s application, conceding that UK law breached human rights legislation and consenting to the court making a declaration of incompatibility. Although only Parliament can change the law, declarations of incompatibility under the Human Rights Act are unusual and carry significant weight: only 20 final declarations have ever been made, and all but one have prompted the law being changed.  However, the government has not yet said whether it plans to push forward reform.

Responding to the judgment, Z’s father said: “I am delighted by today’s ruling which finally confirms that the law is discriminatory against both my family and others in the same situation. I persevered with the legal action because I strongly felt that my son should be in the same legal position as others born through surrogacy. I have a son who I love dearly and as part of this process there was a rigorous court assessment that confirms that I am a good parent. I am now eagerly waiting to hear what the Government will do so my son does not need to indefinitely remain a ward of court.”

Elizabeth Isaacs QC, his barrister, said: “Declarations of incompatibility are rarely made, so this is a very significant decision. Having consented to the declaration, there is no reason why the government should not take swift action to change the law. We hope that the law will be changed to enable a parental order to be granted for Z as soon as possible.”Through our work at NGA and Brilliant Beginnings, we have long felt the impact of surrogacy law’s exclusion of single parents, even though single parents can and do conceive children through surrogacy (just as they build families through adoption and other forms of assisted reproduction). The UK has a proud tradition of taking a progressive approach to assisted reproduction and non-traditional families, and the current surrogacy laws are a glaring anomaly which fail to uphold our most fundamental values of safeguarding children’s welfare. The law needs to change so that Z, and dozens of other children born through surrogacy to single parents, can be rescued from legal limbo.

Click here to read the entire blog post.

May 21, 2016, by Natalie Gamble

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Same-sex unions are not enough, say exiled Italian gay parents

When the Italian parliament this week gave the green light to same-sex couples – becoming the last western European country to do so – the Trevi fountain in Rome was lit up in rainbow colours to celebrate, hailing the move as a major step forward for LGBT rights.

But for Italian families living abroad, the spectre of discrimination against gay couples lives on in restrictive adoption laws which can lead to gay parents having no legal rights over their children by a largely conservative, Catholic and sometimes hostile court system.

Current legislation gives same-sex couples the right to share a surname, draw on their partner’s pension when they die and inherit each other’s assets in the same way as married people.

But it has been fiercely criticised for not providing full equality for gay couples, particularly in terms of adoption rights. While adoption has not been ruled out, family judges will decide on a case-by-case basis.international surrogacy

It means that families who have already adopted abroad will have to go through lengthy court procedures to have their adoption recognised in Italy.

Among them are Giovanni and Marco, two Italian dads living abroad who say they can never return home for fear of the state viewing them as strangers to their adopted children.

“The adoption [of our children] is not recognised by the Italian state, so we could be legally treated as strangers to each other,” they told the Telegraph.

“Whenever we cross the Italian border the parental responsibility over our children falls in a legal grey area. We travel with the contact details of the British Foreign Office and the Adoption Order in case anyone starts questioning ‘why the mother is not travelling with the children?'”

Carolina Girardelli, an Italian lawyer specialising in international adoption, said: “Children [adopted abroad] have no rights as Italian citizens [if their parents are gay].

“You can ask a family judge to recognise your adoption papers but in Italy we have the Church, and a lot of Catholic judges. If one of them is against gay unions, you could lose the case.”

by Mauro Galluzo, May 15, 2016 – telegraph.co.uk

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Why More Gay Couples Are Embracing Surrogacy

When we moved house nearly four years ago, we soon met the other gay couple in the street – they had brought up two boys in a ‘merged home’ – ex-wife, husband-turned gay and gay partner all under the same roof. For a long time earlier straight relationships had been the commonest means by which gay men found themselves fathers.

From the 1990s, hundreds of hopeful gay men agreed to “donor dad” or co-parent arrangements with single women and lesbian couples here in Australia. Sadly, many of those men found themselves cut out of the lives of the children they had fathered. Many were left yearning for kids of their own.

One of the biggest barriers to accepting my own sexuality as a 23-year-old back in 1990 was the certainty than I’d forfeit the chance to be a dad. A decade later, surrogacy started to be talked about – though it was always associated with celebrities, or uber-expensive US options.

gay surrogacy

In recent years, I’ve met hundreds of gay guys who have either raised the funds to create a family overseas or found a surrogate here. It turns out there are so many ways to engage in surrogacy.

Take Michael and Jarred. Six years ago, this Brisbane couple found a local surrogate Rachel Kunde who was willing to use her own eggs and womb – what’s called traditional surrogacy – to help them create twin boys Huxley & Elijah, who are now four years old. For Rachel, providing her eggs as well as her tummy comes naturally – she’s since carried for other couples too.

A year after our own girls were born via surrogacy in India I met with the then Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie to convince him that his plan to ban gay men from accessing surrogacy in Queensland was a stupid one. Luckily, he listened.

by Sam Everigham – news.com.au, May 11, 2016

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Italian couple win international second parent adoption case

 

Two gay Italian women have won the right to international second parent adoption, a legal first for the country. All previous verdicts in Italy in favour of lesbian women being legally recognized as the parents of their partner’s children are at the appeal stages.

In its judgment on Friday, Rome’s juvenile court said Marilena Grassadonia, president of the Rainbow Families association, could adopt her wife’s twin boys via international second parent adoption. In turn, her partner adopted Grassadonia’s son. All three were conceived by artificial insemination.

In March, a man won his request to adopt his partner’s child, but rights watchers believed the ruling may have slipped through the net due to an administrative error, with the office of the prosecutor in charge of the case failing to file an appeal in time.adoption

Grassadonia was a vocal campaigner in Italy during the heated debate earlier this year over a contested civil unions bill.

The text, adopted by parliament’s upper house after a clause allowing gay couples second parent adoption was removed, will be examined by the lower house from 9 May.

Italy’s prime minister Matteo Renzi has said he will resort to a confidence vote on the government, if necessary, to make the bill law.

While they wait for a change in the law, courts have been finding in favour of gay couples since 2014 on the basis of current legislation that favours “emotional continuity” for children.

The Guardian – April 30, 2016

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The predictable reason why anti-LGBT bills become law

The cavalcade of crazy ginned up by folks fearful of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans was predictable. That far-right conservatives have been wigged out ever since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage last June is not surprising.  Anti-LGBT bills are popping up all over the country.

Nor is the move by states to pass so-called religious freedom laws. Nor is the push to deny transgender people the dignity of using the bathroom that matches their gender identity. LGBT-rights activist and radio host Michelangelo Signorile predicted as much a year ago in his book “It’s Not Over: Getting beyond Tolerance, Defeating Homophobia, and Winning True Equality.”

 

Also, “Nearly all of the states facing anti-LGBT bills / anti-transgender bills have only 1 or no openly LGBT people serving in their state legislatures,” the report notes.

“One of the reasons the LGBT movement has seen such rapid progress is because our allies have really stepped up. But allies aren’t enough. When LGBT people are serving in public office, and especially in state legislatures, they directly change the conversation,” Aisha Moodie-Mills, president and CEO of Victory Fund and Institute. told me. “Their visibility and their relationships with their colleagues mean the discussion quickly becomes about a real person with a real family. It’s not just political grandstanding on one side and allies pleading their case on the other. Representation matters. Our voices make a huge difference when we’re in those rooms.”rainbowsilhouetteparents

Knowing this then, the opposite actions recently by Gov. Pat McCrory (R-N.C.) and Gov. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.) have a bit more context.

With lightning speed, the North Carolina legislature passed and McCrory signed into law legislation that not only strips the state of antidiscrimination protections for LGBT folks but also requires transmen and transwomen to use bathrooms based on the sex on their birth certificate and not on their gender identity. The Tar Heel State has no openly LGBT members of its legislature.

Meanwhile, down in the Peach State, Deal vetoed a so-called religious freedom bill. “I do not think we have to discriminate against anyone to protect the faith-based community in Georgia,” he said announcing his decision on March 28. Georgia has three openly LGBT legislators.

by Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post, April 29, 2016

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Gay couple wins custody of their one-year-old daughter from Thai surrogate mother

A same-sex American-Spanish gay couple won a high-profile custody battle Tuesday against a Thai surrogate mother who gave birth to their child but then decided she wanted to keep the baby when she found out they were gay.

Bangkok’s Juvenile and Family Court ruled that the legal guardian of the 15-month-old child, named Carmen, is her American biological father, Gordon Lake, and against the child’s Thai surrogate mother, said Lake’s lawyer Rachapol Sirikulchit.

‘The court has granted legal custody of Carmen Lake to Gordon Lake, my client, and (said) that my client is her only guardian,’ Rachapol said.international surrogacy

Lake and his partner, Spaniard Manuel Santos, both 41, have been stuck in Thailand since launching their legal battle after Carmen was born in January 2015.

Santos emerged from the court smiling and with tears in his eyes.

‘We won,’ he told reporters. ‘We are really happy. … This nightmare is going to end soon.’

‘After 15 months, Carmen will fly to Spain,’ where the couple lives, Santos said.

Rachapol said the couple would not be able to take Carmen out of the country right away pending the possibility of an appeal by the Thai surrogate mother, Patidta Kusolsang. She was not in court and her intentions could not immediately be learned.

Lake and Santos celebrated their legal victory on the ‘Bringcarmenhome’ Facebook page set up to support their custody fight.

‘There is no way to express with words what we are feeling!’ they posted. ‘We are crying, our family is crying, our friends are crying, and we are sure all the Thai people who showed their love for us during this time are crying too.’

‘Today is a huge day for love, for family and for truth. And it is also a big day for LGBT rights,’ said their posting, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights.

The case was seen as complicated by the fact that Thai law does not recognize same-sex marriages and also by a new law that bans commercial surrogacy, which took effect after Carmen’s birth. Rachapol said the court’s ruling was based on a transitory clause in the law allowing the intended parents of any baby born before the law took effect to request to be the legal parents.

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DailyMail.co.uk by Associated Press – April 26, 2016

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