News

Monday January 11, 2010


Utah Legislator Bears Child for Male Homosexual Couple

By Patrick B. Craine

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, January 11, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Utah state legislator has announced that she is serving as a surrogate mother for two homosexual men.

Christine Johnson (D-Salt Lake City), who is currently four months pregnant, was artificially impregnated in September with sperm from one of the men. She agreed to act as a surrogate following a conversation in which the two men, who are her close friends, expressed frustration at the fact that the law prevented them from adopting.

Utah law does not recognize same-sex “marriage,” and prohibits unmarried couples from adopting, which would include homosexual couples.

Johnson, 41, is herself homosexual, but has a 17-year-old daughter from a two-year marriage. “I can very much empathize with their desire to become parents and share their lives with and open their hearts to a child,” Johnson told the Salt Lake Tribune. “I’m immeasurably grateful to be a mother.”

The two men were “married” in California during the five-month period in 2008 when such unions were recognized. According to state law, the biological father’s partner will not be not be able to adopt the child, and will not be recognized as a parent.

Commenting on Johnson’s decision to bear a child for the homosexual couple, Utah state senator Howard Stephenson (R-Draper) maintained that having a mother and father “is the optimum, and what every baby deserves.”

At the same time, however, he praised Johnson for agreeing to be a surrogate. “I do respect any woman who will carry and bear a child for a childless couple,” he said. “It’s my responsibility to show respect and love for one of God’s daughters.”

Johnson says she believes the two men will be “wonderful parents.” “Gender or sexual orientation is less important than children being welcomed into a supportive, loving home,” she told the Deseret News. “This child is going to have an amazing life.”

Research into homosexual parenting has painted a less than positive picture, however.

While the American Academy of Pediatrics has endorsed homosexual adoption, the report supporting their position has been debunked by numerous researchers due to its poor interpretation and methodology. In fact, as Focus on the Family reported, the AAP’s position prompted the largest negative reaction it had ever received from its members.

In 2005, the Spanish organization HazteOir, along with the Spanish Forum for the Family and the Institute for Family Policy, published an in-depth report on the effects of being raised by same-sex parents. They found that children in such families experienced a large increase in low self-esteem, stress, and confusion over sexual identity. They also were much more likely to suffer mental illness, and engage in drug use, promiscuity, and homosexual behaviour.

The findings were supported by the Spanish Association of Pediatrics, who stated that a “family nucleus with two fathers or two mothers is clearly dangerous for the child.”


See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Focus on the Family Gives Facts on Homosexual Adoptions

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/mar/02032004.html

Investigation into Homosexual Parenting Warns of Serious Problems for Children

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2002/feb/02020503.html

“Conclusive” Report by American Academy of Pediatrics on Homosexual Adoption Shown to be Full of Holes

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jun/07060404.html

Experts Worldwide Find Gay Adoption Harmful for Children

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/may/05053106.html

“Same Sex Marriage Harms Children’s Rights” Marriage Symposium Hears

https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06092110.html