Gay men, surrogacy and parenthood

Gay men are increasingly becoming involved in reproduction despite significant barriers that limit their access to reproductive technologies or legal parentage in many jurisdictions. This paper explores how gay men from the United States and Australia understand and narrate their desire to become parents. In addition, it also examines how (commercial) surrogacy works to produce particular understandings of parenthood/reproduction by its intended users.

In depth interviews were conducted with 30 gay men in the United States and Australia who had recently had children—or were planning to have children—through surrogacy. The interviews explored understandings of surrogacy, kinship, parenthood and sexuality. In addition, an analysis was also conducted of the promotional material aimed at potential clients on the websites of US-based surrogacy agencies.

Unlike heterosexual men, the gay men in this study did not have access to a default parenthood ‘script’. Participants drew instead on narratives of ‘choice’ and ‘nature’ to account for their involvement in reproduction, although these were not mutually exclusive. Narratives of choice were consistent with the entrepreneurial, responsibilized subject of advanced liberalism and this corresponded with the marketing strategies of surrogacy agencies. Men in the study also invoked a notion of innate or ‘natural’ desires to parent which were—prior to their experience of surrogacy—understood as incompatible with their identity as gay men.

In the context of a resurgent movement in support of the social justice rights of non-heterosexual citizens, this research offers a unique and timely set of insights into the ways in which gay men narrate their right to and experiences of becoming parents. By examining the complex ways in which kinship, technology and sexuality are constructed and negotiated, we can see that surrogacy is understood as more than just another means of having children.