He’s Having a Baby! Men Having Babies Conference in NYC Offers Practical Assistance to Gay Men Dreaming of Parenting

Huffington Post, September 26, 2013

Sebastian, a 24-year-old New Yorker from Puerto Rico, adores his little nephew, loves playing with him and teaching him Bob Marley songs, and hopes one day to have a child or children of his own.  But as a gay man who is newly diagnosed with HIV, he isn’t sure whether he can have biological children of his own or when he might be in a solid-enough relationship to share parenting responsibilities, or even when he might have a stable-enough career and finances to afford raising a kid.

“It’s not so much about being gay for me,” he says. “Fatherhood is about becoming a man. I grew up without a father, and I think becoming one will help me understand my own masculinity. The HIV is something that is now in the way, you know? I’m just looking to see how that obstacle can be gotten out of the way. Are there prudent, realistic solutions for such a problem?”

Help for Sebastian might be at hand at the Men Having Babies conference, which returns to New York City on Oct. 6 to offer workshops and panels for gay men thinking about becoming parents. In addition to advice from experts, parents, and surrogates; 24 breakout sessions; and an exhibit with more than 30 service providers, the conference will hold a new panel specifically for men with HIV that it debuted in May at the Los Angeles version of the conference.

in In the News / Personal Stories / Surrogacy  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Woman ordered to pay $1.7 million to victims of Modesto-based surrogacy scam

The Modesto Bee, September 10, 2013

A woman who pleaded guilty earlier this year to defrauding clients of her Modesto surrogacy business was ordered Monday to pay them more than $1.7 million, U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

Court documents show that from November 2006 through March 2009, Tonya Ann Collins, 37, carried out a scheme to defraud prospective parents, surrogates and banks through her company, SurroGenesis, and the associated Michael Charles Independent Financial Holding Group.

Victims from as far as Germany lost money, some of them their life savings. Many went into debt to finance their dream of having children.

Collins used the business accounts for personal purchases including automobiles, homes, jewelry, clothing and vacations for herself and others without the clients’ knowledge or consent. Collins used client trust funds that were supposed to be held in escrow accounts to directly pay for her personal purchases.

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/09/10/2912209/woman-ordered-to-pay-17-million.html#storylink=cpy

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in In the News / Surrogacy  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Iowa Dept. of Public Health must do better

OneIowa.com – July 26, 2013

Only a month ago, the United States Supreme Court struck down Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act, granting gay and lesbian married couples more than 1,100 federal benefits and protections previously denied to them. Some people thought we were done. The struggle was over. Our families, at least in Iowa, had equal standing under the law.

Except that there is still so much work to be done. Imagine, for example, how surprised and heartbroken Joanne Abbas and Lindsey Clark were when they received their baby Thea’s birth certificate. It listed only one of the mothers as a parent. When Thea was born, these women correctly filled out the necessary paperwork and, with help from the hospital staff, both women listed their names as parents on the birth worksheet. And still, when they received the birth certificate, Lindsey’s name was missing from this important document.

Despite a previous ruling from the Iowa Supreme Court in the case Gartner v. Newton, the Iowa Department of Public Health is still refusing to immediately issue accurate birth certificates for all children born to married lesbian parents like Joanne and Lindsey. The Gartner case was decided unanimously in May of this year by the Iowa Supreme Court as part of a Lambda Legal lawsuit challenging the Iowa Department of Public Health’s refusal to issue an accurate birth certificate to MacKenzie, daughter of married same-sex couple Heather and Melissa Gartner. Iowa’s highest court ruled in favor of the Gartners, stating that the department would have to change its practice of refusing to issue accurate birth certificates listing both mothers.

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in Adoption / In the News / Legal  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

New Study Confirms Same-Sex Couples Make Great Parents

By Zack Ford  on Jul 10, 2013, thinkprogress.com

A new study has once again confirmed that same-sex couples are just as effective at raising children as opposite-sex couples. Focusing specifically on children adopted at an early age, the study compared gay and lesbian couples to straight couples who were all becoming parents for the first time. Though there were differences in the children’s psychological adjustment, they were not affected by their family type.

What the study actually found is that when parents adopt, how prepared parents were and how depressed parents were impacted their children:

  • Parents’ level of preparation for the adoption was related to both externalizing and internalizing symptoms, such that parents who were less prepared reported more symptoms in their children.
  • Parents’ depressive symptoms were also related to externalizing and internalizing symptoms in adopted children, such that more depressed parents reported more symptoms in their children. Depressive symptoms may compromise parents’ emotional availability and ability to parent effectively, which can contribute to child adjustment problems.

Click here to read the entire article.

in In the News / Parenting  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

HuffingtonPost.com, June 20, 2013

Exodus International, a large Christian ministry that claimed to offer a “cure” for homosexuality, plans to shut down.

In a press release posted on the ministry’s website Wednesday night, the board of directors announced the decision to close after nearly four decades.

“We’re not negating the ways God used Exodus to positively affect thousands of people, but a new generation of Christians is looking for change — and they want to be heard,” Exodus board member Tony Moore said.

The closure comes less than a day after Exodus released a statement apologizing to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community for years of undue judgment, by the organization and from the Christian Church as a whole.

“Exodus is an institution in the conservative Christian world, but we’ve ceased to be a living, breathing organism. For quite some time we’ve been imprisoned in a worldview that’s neither honoring toward our fellow human beings, nor biblical,” said Alan Chambers, president of Exodus.

Click here to read the entire article.

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Duma bars Russian children from adoption by foreign same sex couples

RT.com – June 18, 2013

Russia’s Lower House has passed an amendment that bans the adoption of Russian children by same sex couples from abroad.

The amendment was passed on Tuesday as the State Duma approved  the second reading of the bill to protect orphans.

The amendment also forbids single people who are citizens or  permanent residents of countries that allow same sex marriage to  become adoptive parents or legal guardians of Russian children.

Russia itself does not allow same sex marriage and the country’s  authorities have passed a number of regional and federal bills  banning the promotion of gay and other “non-traditional” sex to  minors – a move considered as discriminative by a large part of  society.

Another related move was the adoption in late 2012 of the so  called ‘Dima Yakovlev Law‘ – an extensive act that  forbids, among other things, the adoption of Russian children by  US citizens or by proxy of US organizations. Russia said it was  prompted by a number of cases where US authorities refused or  failed to cooperate in the investigation of cruelty or even death  of adopted Russian children by their US adoptive parents.

Click here to read the entire article.

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Louisiana House gives final approval to surrogate parenting bill that would bar unmarried, gay couples

By Lauren McGaughy, NOLA.com The Times-Picayune

June 03, 2013

Unmarried and gay couples in Louisiana will be blocked from becoming surrogate parents if Gov. Bobby Jindal signs a bill approved by the House on Sunday. The bill would set up surrogacy contract rules in the state as well as define who is eligible to enter into such contracts.

The final version of Senate Bill 162 defines “intended parents” as “married persons,” thus barring unmarried partners and same-sex couples from becoming parents through surrogacy. However, much of the opposition to the heavily amended bill came from religious and conservative groups who consider all surrogacy “anti-life.”

Louisiana law currently states any surrogate contract in the state is “unenforceable” and absolutely null and void, which proponents of the bill says has led to problems surrounding the legal rights of surrogate mothers, their spouses and the intended parents.

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in In the News / Legal / Legislation / Surrogacy  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

LGBT: Portuguese parliament approves right to adoption – Portugal

May 17, 2103 – Portugese-Amercian-Journal.com

Portuguese parliament has approved Friday two bills that will allow gay couples to adopt children. The bill was approved with 99 votes in favor, 94 votes against, and 9 abstentions.

The bills were supported by the ruling center-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) and the progressive Socialist Party (PS).

The Portuguese parliament had approved the right to same-sex marriages in 2010, but without adoption rights. The law allowed gay couples the same rights as married heterosexual couples, including taxes, inheritance and housing, but didn’t offer the right to adopt children.

Portugal is among the first 10 counties in the world to allow same-sex marriage. As recently as 1982, homosexuality was a crime in Portugal.

Today, Portugal has wide-ranging anti-discrimination laws and is one of the few countries in the world to contain a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation in its Constitution.

The first same-sex marriages in the world took place in the Netherlands on April 1, 2001. The countries that followed were Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina and Brazil.

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in Adoption / In the News / Legal / Legislation  by Anthony Brown 0 comments

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee Signs Gay Marriage Bill

Ontopmag.com, by Carlos Santoscoy – May 2, 2013

Moments after a gay marriage bill cleared its final legislative hurdle on Thursday, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, an independent, signed it into law on the steps of the State House.

The measure cleared the Senate last Wednesday with the help of all 5 of its Republican members.  It returned to a House committee on Wednesday to reconcile some language differences between a version approved three months earlier in the House.

House lawmakers approved the legislation with a 56-15 vote, a better outcome for supporters than the previous 51-19 vote.

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Delaware Becomes the 11th State to Allow Same-Sex Marriage

By Eric Eckholm, May 7, 2013 – New York TImes

Delaware on Tuesday became the 11th state to permit same-sex marriage, the latest in a string of victories for those working to extend marital rights to gay and lesbian couples.

The marriage bill passed the State Senate by a vote of 12 to 9 Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s a great day in Delaware,” said Gov. Jack Markell, a Democrat, who signed it within minutes of passage before an overjoyed crowd of activists. “I am signing this bill now because I do not intend to make any of you wait one moment longer.”

Same-sex couples will be eligible for marriage licenses on July 1.

Adoption of same-sex marriage by Delaware came just five days after a similar decision in Rhode Island and followed ballot-box victories last fall in Maine, Maryland and Washington.

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in In the News / Legal / Legislation  by Anthony Brown 0 comments