Landmark case gives gay couple parenting rights

A gay couple from Essex has made legal history by persuading an American court to allow the pair to become parents of surrogate twin babies.

A gay couple from Essex has made legal history by persuading an American court to allow the pair to become parents of surrogate twin babies.

It is the first time a British gay couple has won surrogate rights in a court and is expected to open the door to further applications to America.

Barry Drewitt, 30 and Tony Barlow, 35, from Chelmsford, will both have their names entered on the children's birth certificates and under Californian law will both become their parents. The twins are expected to be born to an American couple in December.

Mr Drewitt and Mr Barlow, who have been together for 11 years, have spent £200,000 on arranging the surrogate birth and plan to name the babies Aspen and Saffron.

The surrogate mother, Rosalind Bellamy, had the embryos of another woman implanted after they had been fertilised in the laboratory with the sperm of both men. The men have since had DNA tests to ascertain which is the biological father but have declined to reveal the answer.

Stonewall, the gay rights organisation, welcomed the decision, saying that the recognition of a gay man's right to parent a child was an encouraging step forward. But it said that the case raised two very separate issues - surrogate and gay adoption rights.

Meanwhile lawyers in this country warned that the man who was not the biological father was not recognised as a father by English law. Gill Butler, a solicitor who advises on gay parenting issues, said the fact both men's names would be on the American birth certificate made no difference to their legal position in this country and that only the biological father would have the same rights as an unmarried father.

The Children Act 1989 makes no provision for two men to make a "parenting agreement" and she advised them to test the legality of their parenting arrangements in court.

But under the Los Angeles Superior Court ruling the non-biological father can be added as the "second parent".

While the decision is unlikely to be followed in this country it will encourage gay couples to press for change in the law. Earlier this month Dame Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, the head of family courts in England and Wales, threw her support behind gay couples who want to adopt children.

She said that in recent years research had shown that children brought up by same sex parents was the best "available to them". She added: "Consequently it would be quite wrong when looking at the welfare of the child not to recognise that different children will need different types of parents."

Today the House of Lords will rule on whether a gay man is legally entitled to a tenancy which was previously held in the name of his partner. The question arose when a gay man died in a road accident after which the Housing Association applied to regain the tenancy. The Court of Appeal has already ruled in favour of his surviving partner.

A spokesman for the Law Society, which has proposed changes in the law to allow same-sex couples to have joint tenancy rights, said the decision would be landmark case.