gay parenting

Manchester Pride's Lifetyle Expo started today with great success, thankfully the rain did not dampen any spirits, with hundreds of visitors attending the variety of stalls. Pride Angel were happy to be one of those stalls and gave advice to those interested in becoming parents through donor conception or co-parenting.
Erika and Karen the co-founders of Pride Angel said 'We are so happy by the positive response we are getting about this valuable service, there are alot of really genuine people coming forward to offer support by donating sperm or eggs to help others'

In the United States, we thrive on our individuality, our independence, our right to privacy, and our right to procreate. We even thrive on our state’s individual rights as a general premise, even though under the full faith and credit clause of the U.S. Constitution, states are generally required to recognize and honor the public laws of other states.

(repost from my personal blog www.tertia.org)

When I first started the egg donor and surrogacy program here in South Africa, I would get enquiries from gay couples and singles from overseas. Many of them would start their email with "I am not sure whether you deal with gay couples...." and the first few times I was all like "huh? What do you mean?" Of course I deal with gay couples, why wouldn't I? And then I realized how often gay couples were discriminated against. And what a tough time they had accessing the things we take for granted.

Having a child is the most natural thing in the world. In an ideal scenario, it’s a situation born of love, commitment and the desire to procreate. But what if the usual trappings of that romantic impulse to give life aren’t available to you?
To put it into context, The UK Adoption and Children Act 2002 gave same-sex couples the right to jointly adopt children, and in the same year the English Court of Appeal judged that a same-sex couple could be seen to be “living together as husband and wife”.

Nurture – South Africa’s largest Egg Donor program is the creation of two fabulous South Africans who have experienced the heartbreak of infertility first hand – Melany as an egg donor, and Tertia as an infertility patient who went through 9 IVFs to achieve her dream. Assisted by a fabulous group of women, the gals at Nurture make a formidable team who combine the best of heart and soul to provide truly excellent service.

Update - Court Rules:

Court Ruling Here: http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/acrobat/2010/08/04/Prop-8-Ruling-FINAL.p...

"After years of protests, ballot box fights, and legal wrangling, today wraps up a landmark case: the first federal trial to decide whether states can prohibit gay and lesbian couples from legally tying the knot.

The judges ruling is imminent and then we will know whether, Proposition 8, California's ban on gay marriage, will stand.

As I turn the pages of our family photo albums, I see countless pictures of our children growing up.
Most of the shots capture moments of happiness or achievement: my daughters are laughing on care-free holidays under azure summer skies, or clutching a medal, holding a certificate, winning a race.

These albums, stored in a memory chest I have created for my family, are a record not just of my children's happiness and achievements, but my own as well. I love to look at the pictures of us, it's a sort of proof that I'm living the 'parental dream'. Or that's what I thought.