[Australia] - Giant Legal Leap for Gay Dads - Benn Dorrington - Star Observer

Further to our earlier post on this landmark decision in Western Australia, we spoke to Benn Dorrington from the Star Observer about the case and Benn has put together a great piece on it.

Two gay dads have become the first in Australia to have started a family via overseas surrogacy and successfully gained full parental rights.

Australian gay fathers who’ve travelled overseas to start a family through commercial surrogacy are still not recognised as parents, state or federally, but a recent court ruling may have cleared a way for other WA gay couples, and possibly set a precedent in other states.

The Western Australian Family Court allowed a co-father to adopt his twin children, who were born via a commercial surrogacy agreement in India, on January 10.

Charles Blake and James Marston, whose names were changed, applied for Blake to become a step-parent to the twins.
The court heard both Blake and Marston, who was the biological father, had raised the children since birth.
The surrogate mother, Mrs Sengupta, had relinquished her full parental rights as part of the surrogacy process.

To read more, visit the Star Observer here.