'MO - October 2008 - (Page 19)

(l–r) Tryg, Jamie and Eric Pedersen in Washington D.C. Additionally, more than 50% of gay men and 41% of lesbians want children. These new families are incredibly diverse and are using a combination of methods to welcome children into their lives. Carl Spence, artistic director of the Seattle International Film Festival and his partner, Nate Carson, recently adopted Isaac who is nearly one year old. They used the local adoption agency Amara, and worked with the birth mother, a high school student they still see periodically. “It was pretty easy,” Carl said. “We were only on the wait list for about eight months. We both work for supportive companies with regards to health insurance and such so it has been a great experience. We’ll probably adopt a second child within the next year.” Washington state legislator, Jamie Pederson and his partner Eric had a baby son, Tryg, via a donated egg and surrogate mother. When asked if parenthood held any surprises for him and Eric, Jamie said, “You don’t have enough pages in the magazine to list them all.” One surprise they intentionally avoided was built into Washington’s surrogacy laws. “We went to California because there are some structural problems here … due to the waiting period and the setup of custody, potential parents can end up in the horrible position where the surrogate changes her mind. The parents can end up with no baby, having to pay medical bills and even child support. Clearly one of the objectives I have in the legislature is to try to bring Washington into the twenty-ﬁrst century.” Meagan O’Leary, a CPA, and her partner Shannon, a ﬁreﬁghter, both chose to go through invasive fertility procedures (IVF) but after having no success, the couple turned to moseattle.com “open adoption.” In open adoption the birth parents retain some rights (it varies by the individual circumstance). Shannon and Meagan were picked by birth parents Alicia and Mac to be the adoptive parents of Riley. “We were in the hospital room during Alicia’s labor,” said Meagan, “and see the birth mother every few weeks. In fact, she babysat on Sunday so we could go out for our anniversary.” Larry Nicholas, a psychotherapist, and his partner Tom Underhill have been together for ten years but started talking about having a family on their second date. They used a private attorney to help them through the surrogate process and their daughter, Orly, is now 18 months old. Sarah Swanson and her wife Sandy used international adoption to bring three African children (two sons and a daughter) into their family. “We saw the kids on a waiting-children video, fell in love and committed.” Sadly, the children’s country of origin has since banned lesbian and gay people from adopting children, a disturbing global trend. Sandy is now a stay-at-home mom but the couple is concerned about the lack of marriage protections in raising their children. “We’ve had doctors ofﬁces refuse to release lab results on our children because Sandy isn’t the person listed on the insurance card. They don’t have a box for ‘other mother’ and she clearly isn’t their father. Even though we’re both legal parents to our children, I’m also concerned that if something were to happen to me, Sandy wouldn’t be able to collect on my Social Security beneﬁts.” In July of 2006, a bitterly divided Washington State Supreme Court upheld the controversial 1998 ban on same-sex marriage. The opinion that stung the LGBT community most deeply was that of Justice Barbara Madsen. The purpose of marriage in Washington, she wrote, was to “promote procreation and encourage stable families.” While legal opinions remain divided, the facts seem to refute Jus(continued on page 20) Meagan O’Leary with partner, Shannon, and son, Riley, inset. 19 issue 20 | october 2008 http://www.moseattle.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of 'MO - October 2008

'MO- October 2008 Contents Letter From The Editor Voices ’mo-BIZ: MGS Consulting Services GLAAD To Be Aboard Pet Project Instant Activist Sports: Jet City Hoops Tips Off Pro-Equality Candidates Philadelphia Is All About The Love Parenthood Form & Function: Strip It Off For The Holidays Gay City Health Project: Gay Men’s Health Summit The 13th Annual Seattle Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Capitol Hill Guide SceneOut: People@Places Q&A With Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark ’mo-Single Q&A

'MO - October 2008

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