L’Américain Gordon Lake et son époux espagnol Manuel Valero, bloqués en Thaïlande avec leur bébé de 15 mois né d’une mère porteuse qui contestait son départ, ont obtenu aujourd’hui gain de cause devant un tribunal de Bangkok.
« Pour l’intérêt de l’enfant, seul le plaignant aura maintenant la garde exclusive de l’enfant », a ainsi déclaré le juge, d’après un résumé du verdict transmis par communiqué. Il s’est en effet déroulé à huis clos, comme le souligne l’AFP, la presse n’étant pas autorisée à entrer dans le tribunal. « Les plaignants sont homosexuels mais leur homosexualité n’est pas un obstacle à l’éducation de l’enfant et à leurs capacités à faire son bonheur comme celui de n’importe quel autre enfant », est-il également indiqué.
C’est à dire que le couple affronte depuis des mois la mère porteuse, à laquelle ils avaient eu recours pour la conception de Carmen, organisée avec un don d’ovocyte provenant d’une autre femme. Devant son refus de signer des papiers leur permettant de quitter le pays avec l’enfant, les deux hommes la poursuivaient en justice : « Elle nous a dit qu’elle pensait que nous étions une famille normale et quand elle s’est aperçue que nous étions un couple d’homosexuel, elle s’est inquiétée… », confiait Gordon, le père biologique, il y a quelques semaines, dans un entretien au quotidien britannique le Guardian.
Ils sont désormais « heureux que ce cauchemar se termine », a déclaré après le procès, les larmes aux yeux, Manuel à la sortie du tribunal. Le couple, qui a déjà un petit garçon également né en Inde par GPA et vivent habituellement à Valence, dans l’est de l’Espagne, ont confié leur fils à une tante dans l’attente de leur retour.
Cette affaire a ravivé des tensions en Thaïlande, qui a joui d’une réputation controversée de plaque tournante florissante de la GPA, un commerce très lucratif longtemps resté peu encadré. En février 2015, une loi interdisant aux étrangers de faire appel à des mères porteuses thaïlandaises a été votée, après plusieurs scandales, dont l’abandon d’un bébé atteinte par le syndrome de Down par un couple australien.
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>> A same-sex couple have won a legal battle in Thailand against the surrogate mother who gave birth to their daughter but later refused to sign the paperwork to allow the baby to leave the country when she found out they were gay.
The central juvenile and family court on Tuesday ruled in favour of Gordon Lake, an American and the biological father of 15-month-old Carmen, and his Spanish husband, Manuel Santos, both 41.
Gay parents fight to leave Thailand with surrogate baby daughter
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The egg came from an anonymous donor and the surrogate, Patidta Kusolsang, is not biologically related to the baby. She initially handed Carmen to Lake at the hospital but later claimed she thought she would be helping a “legitimate” couple and demanded the baby back.
Since Carmen’s birth in January last year, Lake has lived in a secret location in Thailand, afraid she would be taken away after the surrogate mother opened legal proceedings. Lake’s husband and their two-year-old son, Álvaro, a surrogate baby born in India, moved back to Spain.
“Yes, we won!” Lake said after the ruling, which granted him legal custody.
“We are just overwhelmed with emotion. We always knew our story would have a happy ending and we just can’t wait for the four of us to be together again.”
Although Thailand does not recognise same-sex marriage, the couple chose the south-east Asian country for its high-quality medical facilities and established surrogacy industry for gay couples.
However, a series of high-profile scandals – including one case involving a 24-year-old Japanese businessman who had fathered 16 children, mostly through Thai surrogates – led to a ban on the industry.
Further criticism came after a surrogate baby with Down’s syndrome was left with the Thai surrogate mother even as his parents took his twin sister back to Australia.
Carmen was conceived before the commercial surrogacy ban was implemented, so was exempt from the ruling.
Lake told the Guardian last year that the surrogate mother “said she thought she was doing this for an ‘ordinary family’ and when she found out that it wasn’t an ordinary family she was worried for Carmen’s wellbeing”.
He said the surrogate had asked several times for him to bring the baby to her.
In March last year, Patidta appeared on Thai TV, hiding her face with a hat and aviator sunglasses and saying she initially felt a moral urge to help a “legitimate married couple”.
The surrogate’s lawyer later said Patidta was not homophobic but instead “will never ever sell her baby for money”.
Lake said he had made it clear to the international surrogacy agency, New Life, that they were a same-sex couple. He criticised the company for not giving the couple enough information when its Bangkok office closed before Carmen was born.
New Life’s co-founder, Mariam Kukunashvili, previously told the Guardian that the surrogate knew they were gay parents from the beginning of the process. She added in July that Lake and his husband did not follow New Life’s instructions and the situation had since become unmanageable.
