Life is about to get three times more hectic for Luke Harris and Daryl Lee.
The gay couple from the U.K. is about to have not one, not two, but three kids. Simultaneously. With three different surrogates.
The couple first met in 1999. Both men had babies on their mind.
“We’re both from very close-knit families and I always thought I’d love to have children but it never even crossed my mind that it would be possible,” Luke told New York Daily News. “We thought we are gay, we are going to miss out on that chance in life.”
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“We started to look into adoption,” he continued. “But then Elton John announced he had become a father in 2010 and I realized a gay person could have a baby, too. At first I thought he’s got mega bucks. It’s alright for him, but it’s not possible for us.”
Last year, they began looking into it. They learned that under U.K. law, surrogate mothers cannot be paid, though they are entitled to expenses of up to about $24,000. After realizing it wouldn’t be as expensive as they initially thought, the men began looking for potential mothers through various online surrogacy forums.
The first woman they met was Becky Harris, a three-time surrogate. At the time, she was three months pregnant with another couple’s child, so she referred them to her former sister-in-law, Bex Harris.
Bex agreed to carry the men’s child. Then she mentioned her friend, Viktoria Ellis, was also interested in becoming a surrogate mother.
Luke and Daryl figured “What the hell?” and reached out to Viktoria, who also agreed to carry a child for them.
Months passed. Then Becky called the guys back to say she’d given birth to the child she was carrying and was ready to help them out now.
“When we told our families we are having our first surrogate baby, they were so excited for us, as they know for the past 15 years we’ve dreamed of having a family of our own,” Luke told The Sun. “When we told them we were having a second baby they were amazed. And then, when we announced we’re actually having three babies of our own they were stunned but overjoyed.”
Two of the babies were conceived with Daryl’s sperm and one with Luke’s. All three babes are due within seven months of each other, between January and July of next year.
“We never imagined in our wildest dreams we would have three all at once,” Luke said.
“I’ve been blessed with two children of my own,” Victoria said. “It’s about wanting to help someone have a family of our own.”
“And none of us can think of two people more deserving of the joy of fatherhood,” Becky added.
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Graham Gremore is a columnist and contributor for Queerty and Life of the Law. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
DonW
Reality TV contract in three, two, one…
demented
It’s a sweet idea, but they are gonna be swamped and exhausted when they go from no babies to three in less than a year. I hope they have relatives to come help out!
Just curious, in cases like these, do they use the surrogate’s ovum?
jason smeds
This is so wrong on so many levels. I would be in favor of a law to stop Luke and Daryl from doing this. They are giving male homosexuality a bad name in my opinion.
I also blame the women for trivializing childbirth.
vive
I know I’m going to get flamed for saying this, but the whole thing just seems incredibly narcissistic to me.
QJ201
24K x 3 = 72K
Yeah that’s chump change for the average gay couple. NOT.
More wealthy gays buying babies. Next.
DCFarmboi
@jason smeds: I am with you, brother. It is really sick that they denigrate the idea of adopting a child who needs a home.
jpcflyer
…just what the world needs.
SteveDenver
I worked for a wonderful woman who over the course of five years adopted four children, not realizing right away the implications of having four children within two years of age. They all reach puberty at the same time, they all start driving around the same time, and they are all graduating around the same time.
I hope they’re very very happy, but there are potential hurdles that are magnified by the babies all arriving at the same time.
AnitaMann
I wish them all the best. Parenting is exhausting but it’s the best thing in the world.
Saint Law
@jason smeds: What the suffering fuck do you know about childbirth you berserk mollycoddled old pervert.
Cobalt Blue
The whole thing desplaced here is a monstrosity. Every line that explains how these five consived this filth is an attempt against the real fatherood and motherood. This, in my book, isn’t a family but a gang of pervs.
Cobalt Blue
@Cobalt Blue: ” Fatherhood ” and ” Motherhood “.
demented
@Saint Law: He knows that it’s women’s only function, aside from being evil conniving temptresses who force men apart and pretend to be bisexual in order to oppress man-love. Apparently that is all he knows.
RyanD
@Cobalt Blue:
You forgot “conceived” in all of that self-righteous indignation.
Ridpathos
And they’ll probably be horrible at fathering all three of them. I don’t know why gay men feel the need to have 8 babies at once. Is it because they fetishize octomom?
Cobalt Blue
@RyanD: Yes. I noticed it right after to write ” Fatherhood…” and before you have posted your comment. I’m nor American, don’t live in an anglophone country so English isn’t my language and I had little English classes. But I can notice when people are acting below the expected for a human being standard like these three c*ws and two fags.
Saint Law
@demented: His posts take women hating to a whole other level.
Srsly I wouldn’t be surprised if there were bodies under the bastard’s patio.
DarkZephyr
@Cobalt Blue: if you hate gay men so much, stop visiting Queerty.
aliengod
What an incredibly bad idea. These guys should be stopped!
DonW
@Ridpathos: Wow, such vitriol. How do you jump from a single case of three kids to “gay men feel the need to have 8 babies at once”?
@ aliengod: Just how do you suggest “these guys should be stopped”? Who is going to decide how and whether people can form families? And does your idea only apply to gays? Show us your previous posts demanding that the authorities forcibly sterilize the Octomom and the Duggers.
These guys sound a bit naïve but FFS, couples have triplets all the time and manage somehow. How about reserving some of your hostility for people who are truly causing harm in the world instead of those who are bit nutty because they love kids so much?
RyanD
@Cobalt Blue: Coincidentally English is my 2nd language too. That still doesn’t make me a judgmental prick to people I don’t know.
I may not agree with using three surrogates at the same time, but it’s not illegal and apparently everyone came to an amicable agreement.
The only harm done here were to the frail sensibilities of pearl-clutchers like you.
AzLights
@DCFarmboi: Well, you know, the kids wouldn’t be mini-mes if they were adopted. I’d respect them a lot more if they’d adopted. Lots of kids out there need homes.
jwtraveler
Further proving that, yes, gay people are just like straight people, JUST AS CRAZY.
jwtraveler
@vive: Agreed.
jason smeds
Look, I don’t mind happy families. I’m all for gay adoption. However, the way this is done in this story just reeks of opportunism and selfishness. I’m sure the children will have a great upbringing but I’m not happy about the way it’s being done.
1EqualityUSA
smeds….St. Matthew’s Episcopal Day School?…..hmmm…creep-o-meter in the red.