sperm donor

Lucy Durnin - from U.K.'s Pink News - is reporting that an Irish gay man who donated his sperm to a lesbian couple has lost his legal bid for guardianship to his biological child.

The man filed the proposal in court although he signed an agreement that he would not seek the role of father but - instead - act as a 'uncle' and have access to the child at the discretion of the couple.

Gay Dads Australia is in the process of archiving Australian media reports in relation to Gay Dads, Lesbian Mums/Moms and Rainbow Families in Australia. The sites aim is to provide a resource for those people interested in looking at how our Rainbow Families are portrayed in the Australian print and television media.

In the late 1980's, a married doctor in Nassau County, New York donated his sperm to a friend and her female partner.

The man included his name on the child's birth certificate, believing it would give the boy "an identity". The donor orally agreed he would not have any rights or benefits in the child's upbringing. However, he regularly sent money, gifts and cards which were signed "Dad" and "Daddy," and enjoyed regular phone chats with the child.

The donor said he had contact with the child from his birth until 1993, when the mothers and son moved to Oregon.

What makes a man decide to donate his sperm for an unidentified prospective parent? Does he ever think about the kids he may have helped create? And, what goes-on inside a man's head when he's in the "donor room" of a fertility clinic?

As they grow and mature, children want to know about their biological origins. That is why Rainbow Flag Health Services allows the sperm donor (not the legal parent of the child) to be known to the child. Utilizing this unique service, it's the only sperm bank to tell the mother who the donor is when the child is three months old. The mother is asked to contact the donor by the child's first birthday. This is similar in concept to open adoption, where the birth mother is known to the child although she is not the child's legal parent.

Even after 10 years with Ruth, Kim tells the Salt Lake Tribune, "There's just not an acknowledgement that we're a family".

Growing up, they heard the gay jokes. They thought gay people got diseases or would go to hell. Kim recalls hearing homphobic slurs in seventh grade. And a church leader told Ruth, if she wanted to be happy, she should get a husband.