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Gay couple win custody battle against Thai surrogate mother Gay couple win custody battle against Thai surrogate mother
(35 minutes later)
A court in Thailand has awarded custody of a baby to a same-sex American-Spanish couple after a high-profile court battle with a Thai surrogate mother who decided she wanted to keep the baby when she found out they were gay. A same-sex couple have won a legal battle in Thailand against the surrogate mother who gave birth to their daughter but later refused to sign the paperwork to allow the baby to leave the country when she found out they were gay.
The case was complicated by the fact that Thai law does not recognise same-sex marriages and also by a new law that bans commercial surrogacy, which took effect after baby Carmen’s birth. The central juvenile and family court on Tuesday ruled in favour of Gordon Lake, an American and the biological father of 15-month-old Carmen, and his Spanish husband, Manuel Santos, both 41.
The couple, Gordon Lake and Manuel Santos, both 41, have been in Thailand since launching their legal battle after Carmen was born in January 2015. Related: Gay parents fight to leave Thailand with surrogate baby daughter
Lake is the biological father of Carmen, who is now 15 months old, while the egg came from an anonymous donor. The egg came from an anonymous donor and the surrogate, Patidta Kusolsang, is not biologically related to the baby. She initially handed Carmen to Lake at the hospital but later claimed she thought she would be helping a “legitimate” couple and demanded the baby back.
When Carmen was born, the surrogate, Patidta Kusolsang, handed over the baby to Lake and Santos. But they say Patidta then changed her mind and refused to sign the documents to allow Carmen to get a passport so they could leave Thailand. Since Carmen’s birth in January last year, Lake has lived in a secret location in Thailand, afraid she would be taken away after the surrogate mother opened legal proceedings. Lake’s husband and their two-year-old son, Álvaro, a surrogate baby born in India, moved back to Spain.
Lake and Santos were told she had thought they were an “ordinary family and that she worried for Carmen’s upbringing”, according to a message Lake posted on a crowdfunding site that raised $36,000 (£25,000) to help cover the costs of the trial and staying in Thailand. “Yes, we won!” Lake said after the ruling, which granted him legal custody.
Lake has said he does not know why the surrogate said she did not know he was gay. He said he was clear about that from the start with their surrogacy agency, New Life, which has branches in several countries. “We are just overwhelmed with emotion. We always knew our story would have a happy ending and we just can’t wait for the four of us to be together again.”
The Bangkok-based New Life office has closed since commercial surrogacy was outlawed in Thailand in July 2015, following several high-profile scandals. There was a grace period for parents whose babies were already on the way, and Lake said he hoped the judge would be sympathetic to them. Although Thailand does not recognise same-sex marriage, the couple chose the south-east Asian country for its high-quality medical facilities and established surrogacy industry for gay couples.
Carmen has lived with the couple since her birth. However, a series of high-profile scandals – including one case involving a 24-year-old Japanese businessman who had fathered 16 children, mostly through Thai surrogates – led to a ban on the industry.
Further criticism came after a surrogate baby with Down’s syndrome was left with the Thai surrogate mother even as his parents took his twin sister back to Australia.
Carmen was conceived before the commercial surrogacy ban was implemented, so was exempt from the ruling.
Lake told the Guardian last year that the surrogate mother “said she thought she was doing this for an ‘ordinary family’ and when she found out that it wasn’t an ordinary family she was worried for Carmen’s wellbeing”.
He said the surrogate had asked several times for him to bring the baby to her.
In March last year, Patidta appeared on Thai TV, hiding her face with a hat and aviator sunglasses and saying she initially felt a moral urge to help a “legitimate married couple”.
The surrogate’s lawyer later said Patidta was not homophobic but instead “will never ever sell her baby for money”.
Lake said he had made it clear to the international surrogacy agency, New Life, that they were a same-sex couple. He criticised the company for not giving the couple enough information when its Bangkok office closed before Carmen was born.
New Life’s co-founder, Mariam Kukunashvili, previously told the Guardian that the surrogate knew they were gay parents from the beginning of the process. She added in July that Lake and his husband did not follow New Life’s instructions and the situation had since become unmanageable.