After 7 Year Battle, South African Gay Couple Finally Allowed A Child
Posted By Eric Ethington (Author) on December 22, 2010
Johannesburg, South Africa – After a 7 year court battle, a gay couple have finally been granted permission to use a surrogate to have their child. Judge Seun Moshidi has finally given the go ahead for the surrogate mother to relinquesh all parental rights to the couple.
Harry and Kevin Johnson (not their real names) have been trying to have a child for the past 7 years. They wanted a child biologically related to them so adoption was not in the picture. But South African law forbade a surrogate mother from giving up parental rights to a same-sex couple. All hope seemed lost.
But in April of 2010, South Africa passed the Children’s Act and after another 8 months of pleading with the Judge, the Johnsons have finally cleared to become parents. Best of luck to the new parents!
This is in line with the new Children’s Act that came into effect in April 2010. The order has to be granted before embryos are transferred to the surrogate.
Now that the court order has been granted, the couple hopes to have at least one child by this time in 2011.
For more than seven years, the Johnsons battled homophobia while looking for a woman to carry their child.
"Eric, trying to have this (civil rights) conversation with you is ultimately like trying to teach a pig to dance, it just annoys the pig. So Eric, sorry to annoy you."
-Paul Mero, The Sutherland Institute.
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