Catholic group attacks Tom Daley for ‘depriving’ baby of mother
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A Catholic group has lashed out at gay Olympic hero Tom Daley – for having a baby.
Daley, 23, revealed this week that his expecting a baby with his Oscar-winning husband Dustin Lance Black, 43.
It is believed that the pair are having the child via surrogate, posting a selfie with an ultrasound scan.
The high-profile gay couple’s decision to start a family has led to a tidal wave of homophobic comments.
And one anti-LGBT Catholic group made a shocking claim about Daley.
Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
Elizabeth Howard of Catholic Voices told Christian Today: “A baby is always a blessing and someone of inestimable value.
“However, Tom Daley’s baby will be deliberately deprived of a mother, and no matter how much Tom Daley and his partner love the baby, it will not make up for the enormous loss inflicted on him or her.”
She added: “As a donor-conceived person, I know myself that to grow up without one’s genetic parent means a huge loss of identity and often leads to a sense of not belonging.”
Meanwhile, Christian Today columnist James Macintyre added: “Because there were no details released, we do not know if money has changed hands on this occasion.
“But questions should be raised about babies becoming commodities, the result of transactions. After all, what more appropriate mark of our transactional society is there than that?”
Commercial surrogacy is not legal in the UK.
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Elsewhere today, LBC issued an apology after questioning whether the couple’s baby news was “sinister”.
The radio station had tweeted: “Tom Daley and his husband are having a baby.
“Is there something sinister about the woman’s exclusion in this scenario?”
In a statement to PinkNews, a LBC spokesperson said: “We unreservedly apologise for what was a badly worded debate today, which does not reflect our values and should not have been worded in this way.
“We apologise for any offence caused, that was not our intention.”
Daley and Black have received thousands of abusive comments online claiming gay people shouldn’t have children.
One commenter wrote: “Someone has to stop this. One day your day will come. Leave innocent children out of it. By the way, who out of you two gay guys is carrying the child? Disgusting.”
Another added: “I’m sorry but I do not agree with same sex marriage couples having kids it ain’t normal a child should be born a man and women [sic] relationship end of they need there heads dipping into ice cold water”.
The pair had announced the news on Instagram, sharing a picture of themselves with an ultrasound scan.
Daley wrote: “HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!”, followed by an emoji of two men and a child.
Black added: “A very happy #ValentinesDay from ours to yours.”
The celebrity couple got married in May 2017, and recently sold their London penthouse flat – presumably to make way for a new family home.
In a recent interview, Daley had hinted that he and Black plan to start a family.
He said: “It’s not a question of ‘if’, just ‘when’.
“I’ve always said I’ll keep diving as long as my body lets me.
“But the beauty of being an athlete is you retire young and you’ve got your whole life ahead of you.
“Once I’ve finished with diving there are going to be other avenues I’d like to explore.
“Family has always been a massive thing.”
Speaking on BBC Question Time, Lance Black said: “I’m here from the United States of America. I didn’t get to vote on Brexit, because in this country because I fell in love.
“Because I call it home and because I hope to raise a family here.”
He added: “So I really do give a damn about how this country does and it seems like no one’s got their eye on the ball, who’s at the wheel of the ship.”
In a candid interview late last year, Lance Black admitted the couple sometimes fall out and “fight” with each one another.
Tom Daley (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
Olympic diver Tom also revealed that the couple spent as much as five weeks at a time apart due to transatlantic schedules while dating.
The pair tied the knot in a country wedding last year, surrounded by family and friends.
Just weeks later they showed of their marital home, now on the market.
Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black
“We’ve been together now almost five years and I’m still discovering new things about him,” Lance Black told Gay Times magazine.
“There’s a constant renewal to our relationship and I’ve never experienced anything like it. It’s really exciting.”
The 43-year-old, who has not been married before, admitted wedded life had some downfalls and the pair still fight.
“I mean, we’re certainly not two perfect people. We have fights.
(Photo by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images)
“Although when we fight, we just get very, very quiet. And then we know we’re in trouble, one or the other!”
He proudly proclaimed: “We’re certainly not doing it for public approval.”
The pair previously admitted to the Attitude Heroes podcast that their relationship isn’t perfect.
“We have really tough times and struggles. For example we went long distance for a very, very, long time: he was in LA, I was living in London. We would spend sometimes five weeks apart.
“And it’s something that was really, really tough and we’ve had to make massive and dramatic changes in our lives in order to be able to live together and see each other all the time. So it’s not all plain sailing.”
Tom came out as being attracted to men in December 2013, in a video that has now been viewed more than 12 million times.
He has declined to label his sexuality since coming out.
Husband Lance later revealed Daley is still attracted to women, saying: “I don’t know if I’ll be in trouble for this; his head still turns for girls.”
