Many congratulations to Elton John and David Furnish on the arrival of their son Zachary, born through a surrogacy arrangement in California on Christmas Day.
Important changes to the law were passed in 2008 giving equal treatment to same sex parents who conceive a child together and, just as Elton and David were among the very first gay couples to register their civil partnership when the new laws came into force in 2005, they stand to be one of the first gay couples named as joint legal parents of a surrogate child. Surrogacy law in the UK is complex and, as parents who have entered into an arrangement abroad, they will need to grapple with immigration and nationality issues as well as a court application here in the UK within six months of the birth to be recognised as Zachary’s legal parents.
They are just one of many gay couples starting a family through surrogacy, adoption and co-parenting. We send many congratulations to their new exceptional family, and we wish them the very best of luck with their parenthood journey.
There is more information about surrogacy law for gay couples on our website.
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