France has always prided itself on its nationalisme. They keep bullshit English words like âcowboyâ and âe-mailâ out of their beautiful language and are pretty strict about who is and who is not a citizen. Maybe thatâs why they refuse to let Paul Augustine and his newborn twins back into the country after their birth through a surrogate in India. After all, kids born in a country with inferior wine arenât really French, are they?
We first referred to Augustine (not his real name) while covering the similar story of Dan Goldberg. Goldberg languished for months in Mumbai while a homophobic Isreali court took its sweet time issuing him a paternity test to prove he was the father â and not some pedophile engaged in child trafficking. Presumably, Augustine is one of the other gay men we mentioned awaiting in Mumbai a similar resolution. Heâs now running out of cash and could lose his sons or face charges if he tries to illegally return to France with them.
Augustine âtook the birth certificates [of his sons]⌠to the French consulate and asked for [their] names to be transferred to the French birth registry, a move that is necessary to get his newborns French passports.â But while Israel denied Goldbergâs kids citizenship because of a paternity test, France isnât contesting Augustineâs paternity. Instead theyâre holding him up because surrogacy is illegal in France and even though Augustine claims to have had a legal surrogacy in India, it doesnât change the fact that France would normally question a childâs true citizenship in such a birth.
Augustine and his partner of 14 years are hopeful of their ultimate success. Augustine âhas heard of past instances where gay fathers from France have faced difficulty taking their surrogate children homeâ and after weeks of protest by Goldbergâs family members, Isreal finally allowed Goldberg and his sons to return home. But France is no Israel. Sixty-three percent of France is opposed to the idea of gay couples having kids through artificial insemination and thatâs apparently reflected somewhat in their laws.
How about we take this to the next level?
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If Augustine wants to get his sons home soon, his friends and families should start making picket signs now.
Dionte
That’s so sad đ
Lamar
@Dionte: Indeed, especially considering how it is already so easy for women to naturally get biologically related children, but no-one seems to care about gays who want children,only lesbians which is unfair.
whatever
How is this an anti-gay law? France bans surrogacy for everyone, not just gays. If a infertile heterosexual couple did this, their child would be denied entry, too.
France has no obligation to let these children in the country just because India allows for commercial surrogacy. Good for France for not encouraging the exploitation of poor women.
whatever
Poor kids, but the guy is an idiot for not knowing the laws before he blew wads of cash on this.
McShane
I too, can’t imagine someone making such a costly move without cunsulting the laws; indeed, he had to know them, or why else go to India? If nothing else he could have screwed the mother to avoid the insemination part. That stricks me as a strange, amost Catholic law.
hyhybt
Would it have been simpler if he’d claimed to have slept with the mother?
jeffree
@McShane: @whatever: Co-sign! I almost felt sorry for the guy until I realized he didn’t do his homework before getting involved in this. I think the kids shouldnt have to suffer as a result, but that’s now how the world works !
Also, as a product of the US foster care system, I’ll add that the French adoption/foster care laws are in need of a total update.
Parents (even str8 couples) who want to adopt there meet with even more delays & obstacles than they would here in many states.
The process to end parental rights of birth parents is among the most convoluted I’ve researched. The EU agency in charge of overseeing & making the laws consistant in member countries is asleep at the wheel….
rant over đ
Lamar
@whatever: This isn’t specifically anti-gay but it will negatively affect far more gays than straights, straights can have kids naturally the vast majority of the time but gay couples can’t naturally. Straights can then turn to adoption if infertile but gays in France cannot. It’s sorta like banning Muslims from entering a country and claiming it has nothing to do with race.
Larsen
it is not relevant to mix governments and the people who live there…