Platonic couple where one partner is gay made legal parents of surrogate child
(PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images)
A married couple who live separately and are in a platonic relationship have been officially appointed as the legal guardians of their surrogate child.
The partnership, where one half of the couple is gay, knew of each other’s sexual orientation before they got married.
As a consequence, a senior family court ruled that the marriage and parenthood still stood, in spite of the platonic nature of the union, reported The i.
“There is, as Ms Fottrell has demonstrated, no ground upon which the marriage could be declared voidable, let alone void,” ruled Sir James Munby, president of the Family Division of the High Court.
“There can be no question of the marriage being a sham. In short, the marriage is a marriage. The fact that it is platonic, and without a sexual component, is, as a matter of long-established law, neither here nor there and in truth no concern of the judges or of the State,” said the president in the senior ruling.
“The applicants were indeed, and remain, married to each other,” he said in a ruling made public on Tuesday.
The judge also added that although the homes of the couple were separate, they were still the familiar and only homes of the child.
“The applicants have different homes, with each of which the child is very familiar,” the judge said.
“When the child is not with both parents, the child’s time is split between them and their homes. The child does not live with anyone else.”
