Thai surrogate refuses to give baby to gay foreign couple

26.06.2015

An American man says he is unable to return to the United States with his newborn daughter after the Thai surrogate mother refused to sign necessary documents after finding out the baby would be raised by a gay couple.

Gordon "Bud" Lake and his husband have launched the campaign #BringCarmenHome at an apartment in Bangkok and said they will take legal action to gain custody of the infant, Carmen Santos Lane, after the surrogate mother refused to sign off on her American passport, according to a report yesterday from gay news site Washington Blade.

The child was born prior to a ban on commercial surrogacy was passed in February in response to a scandal over the practice last year when an Australian couple reportedly abandoned an infant born with Down syndrome.

According to Lake, he met the mother, whose identity is not mentioned, for the first time the day before his daughter was born Jan. 17 in Bangkok.

It is known that the couple hired the surrogate through an agency. She was fully cooperating and agreed to list Lake as the father and sign a consent form that allowed him to take Carmen from the hospital until she found out Lake was in a gay marriage. The couple also has another baby born through a surrogate in India.

They said the Thai surrogate posted photos of herself holding a gun to Facebook and waited in the lobby of their previous apartment eight hours, demanding the baby be given to her.

Lake and his husband expect to go to court and win custody.

“We are not going to hide our sexual orientation, and we are presenting the case as a married gay couple,” Lake told the Blade. “We are hoping that a court will see in our favor — a stable loving family environment with gay parents versus a potential volatile and unstable environment.”

Source: bangkok.coconuts.co