A
homosexual American-Spanish couple has won the right to keep their child,
Carmen. Complications ensued after the girl's surrogate mother decided to keep
the baby after realizing that the couple was gay.
Deutsche Welle, 26 April 2016
Bangkok's
Juvenile and Family Court ruled on Tuesday that US citizen Gordon Lake
(pictured above, left) was Carmen's legal guardian, his lawyer, Rachapol
Sirikulchit, told reporters.
"The
court has granted legal custody of Carmen Lake to Gordon Lake, my client, and
my client is her only guardian," the attorney said.
Lake's
partner, Spaniard Manuel Santos (pictured above, right), was elated at the
verdict. "We won," he told journalists, adding, "We are really
happy… This nightmare is going to end soon."
Santos and
Lake had been stuck in Thailand since January 2015, when Carmen was born. The
two have been living off of finances from a crowdfunding website where they had
appealed for help.
Lake is
Carmen's biological father, while the egg came from an anonymous donor. After
Carmen's birth, her surrogate mother Patidta Kusolsang gave the baby to Lake
and Santos.
Manuel Santos and his partner have been stuck in Thailand for nearly 15 months |
Although
Carmen had been living with the couple since her birth, her surrogate mother
changed her mind and did not sign the documents to enable Carmen to obtain a
passport. The two men were told that Patidta did not know they were gay before
handing over the child.
Lake's
same-sex marriage with Santos became a problem in Thailand, which does not
recognize homosexual unions. However, the 41-year-old American insisted the
matter had been clear ever since they tied up with surrogacy agency New Life, which
has branches in several countries.
This was
further complicated by a ban on surrogacy in 2015 following a series of
scandals involving foreign adoptions. However, the ban took effect only after
Carmen was born.
In one
high-profile case, an Australian couple was accused of abandoning a baby with Down's Syndrome, while taking away her twin back home with them. In another
scandal, a Japanese man had 15 babies with surrogate mothers.
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