Utah lesbian lawmaker, Rep. Christine Johnson (D-Salt Lake City) has announced she’s a surrogate mother, carrying a baby for two gay men.
In April, Johnson (pictured) offered to be a surrogate for the Salt Lake County couple, her close friends, after they expressed frustration with the difficulty of adopting a child in Utah, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.
State law forbids cohabiting, unmarried couples from adopting. But some gay couples venture to other states or try to adopt in Utah as single parents.
Johnson became pregnant in September — on the first attempt — with one of the men’s sperm. He will have the same rights to the child as any biological father. But his partner, under Utah law, cannot be an adoptive parent.
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Johnson offered to be a surrogate at no cost to save the couple the prohibitive price of hiring one — as much as $100,000. (The men are picking up the medical tab.) She also is excited to help a couple who might not otherwise have been able to have a child.
