Today is the start of National Adoption Week – Have you ever considering adopting a child? Thousands of children are taken into care every year. Of these many are never lucky enough to become part of a secure loving long-term family. This important week reminds us there are kids out there waiting to be taken in by someone who will make them part of their own family and give them the ‘forever home’ they are longing for.
If you have ever considered the option of adopting, you need to be over 21, patient, and dedicated to offering someone lifelong love and support. It's a huge responsibility, but one that comes with great rewards. For more information about the adoption process click here.
The campaign also asks adopted people over 18 and parents of adopted children to come forward and help out. Possible activities include writing to your local newspaper; putting up posters; writing an adoption blog; doing your own fundraising challenge, or rounding up loved ones to talk them about your individual experiences with adoption. For more information on how you can help, go to the National Adoption Week website for more information.
Also in celebration of National Adoption Week 2011 they are encouraging anyone who is over 18 and has a connection with adoption to enter a short film. It has to be creative and inspiring – you don’t have to own professional equipment to take part, it could even be filmed on a mobile phone. None of that matters – all that matters is that it stands out and fulfils the aims. Once the winner is announced the winner will be awarded in London. Click here for competition details.
If adoption isn’t for you, have you ever considered having a family through co-parenting or using a known sperm or egg donor? Visit www.prideangel.com for more information
Monday, 31 October 2011
Sunday, 30 October 2011
WIN £100 and chance to perform at Yorkshire’s Award-Winning Pride festival!
Calderdale Pride and Bar Place will be teaming up for the first heat of Pride’s Got Talent on Saturday 3rd December.
Pride Secretary Vikki Kitson said “We’re opening things up this time around and giving people a say in who and what they want to see onstage at Pride 2012”.
“This contest is a first for us, and we’re especially keen to invite bands, singers, dancers, comedians, drag and cabaret acts along”. “The audience on the night will be invited to vote for their favourite performer or performers, with the winner or winners of the first heat going through to the semi-finals in February”.
“If you consider yourself to be a natural talent or even if you just enjoy performing for fun, then please contact us to register”. The overall winner of Calderdale Pride’s Got Talent will win themselves a £100 cash prize and the opportunity to perform centre-stage at Calderdale Pride 2012 on Saturday 16th June.
“Over 9,000 people attended Calderdale Pride in 2011, and we fully expect to match that in 2012. This is an incredible opportunity for anyone who wants to perform in a great venue before a fantastic crowd, and alongside an incredible stage line-up” Vikki added.
The first heat will be held at Bar Place Hotel and Restaurant, Hebden Bridge on Saturday 3rd December from 7.30pm. All entrants must be over 18 years of age.
Vikki can be contacted by email at: calderdalepridesecretary@o2email.co.uk
Pride Secretary Vikki Kitson said “We’re opening things up this time around and giving people a say in who and what they want to see onstage at Pride 2012”.
“This contest is a first for us, and we’re especially keen to invite bands, singers, dancers, comedians, drag and cabaret acts along”. “The audience on the night will be invited to vote for their favourite performer or performers, with the winner or winners of the first heat going through to the semi-finals in February”.
“If you consider yourself to be a natural talent or even if you just enjoy performing for fun, then please contact us to register”. The overall winner of Calderdale Pride’s Got Talent will win themselves a £100 cash prize and the opportunity to perform centre-stage at Calderdale Pride 2012 on Saturday 16th June.
“Over 9,000 people attended Calderdale Pride in 2011, and we fully expect to match that in 2012. This is an incredible opportunity for anyone who wants to perform in a great venue before a fantastic crowd, and alongside an incredible stage line-up” Vikki added.
The first heat will be held at Bar Place Hotel and Restaurant, Hebden Bridge on Saturday 3rd December from 7.30pm. All entrants must be over 18 years of age.
Vikki can be contacted by email at: calderdalepridesecretary@o2email.co.uk
Thursday, 27 October 2011
Ken Livingstone: The ideal sperm donor?
In his new autobiography, the former mayor of London reveals that he helped two friends get pregnant. John Walsh imagines his donation credentials
In his autobiography, You Can't Say That, Ken Livingstone reveals that, in the early 1990s, while living with his long-term partner Kate Allen, he was asked by two women if he would father their children. He obliged with enthusiasm and triumphant success. He gave the first woman, the journalist Philippa Need, a daughter in August 1990 and a son in September 1992. Around the same time, he also helped out Jan Woolf, a teacher and political activist, who gave birth to Livingstone's second son in November 1992, just weeks after the first.
The former, and indeed possibly future, Mayor of London made it clear that in each case he was doing a favour for a friend, "be[ing] around, taking an interest" in the children and "supporting them emotionally", but not living with the mothers.
Ten years later, after his relationship with Allen had ended, and he had got together with Emma Beal, another journalist, he became the proud father of two more children. Despite the potentially awkward convergence of dates in 1992 – which suggest that, while co-habiting with one woman, he impregnated two others simultaneously – the outcome was a happy one, with all three mothers and all five children enjoying summer holidays together.
There is something splendidly patriarchal – something tribal, Mormonite, sultanic – about Livingstone's cheerful polygamous arrangements, and about the casual, even humdrum, way he describes them in his autobiography. It's piquant to find this Lambeth-born working-class hero and Labour MP for Brent East beginning the 1990s by emulating King Mswati III of Swaziland, who had 23 children by 14 wives.
It is an admirable, if not objectively explicable, thing that at least three women were so impressed by his political commitment and strength of character that they settled on him (sometimes not once but twice) to be the ideal father for their babies. But would Livingstone be the ideal sperm donor for everyone? Were he to fill in a form on a donor website, how would it read?
Article: 25th October 2011 Read more www.independent.co.uk
In his autobiography, You Can't Say That, Ken Livingstone reveals that, in the early 1990s, while living with his long-term partner Kate Allen, he was asked by two women if he would father their children. He obliged with enthusiasm and triumphant success. He gave the first woman, the journalist Philippa Need, a daughter in August 1990 and a son in September 1992. Around the same time, he also helped out Jan Woolf, a teacher and political activist, who gave birth to Livingstone's second son in November 1992, just weeks after the first.
The former, and indeed possibly future, Mayor of London made it clear that in each case he was doing a favour for a friend, "be[ing] around, taking an interest" in the children and "supporting them emotionally", but not living with the mothers.
Ten years later, after his relationship with Allen had ended, and he had got together with Emma Beal, another journalist, he became the proud father of two more children. Despite the potentially awkward convergence of dates in 1992 – which suggest that, while co-habiting with one woman, he impregnated two others simultaneously – the outcome was a happy one, with all three mothers and all five children enjoying summer holidays together.
There is something splendidly patriarchal – something tribal, Mormonite, sultanic – about Livingstone's cheerful polygamous arrangements, and about the casual, even humdrum, way he describes them in his autobiography. It's piquant to find this Lambeth-born working-class hero and Labour MP for Brent East beginning the 1990s by emulating King Mswati III of Swaziland, who had 23 children by 14 wives.
It is an admirable, if not objectively explicable, thing that at least three women were so impressed by his political commitment and strength of character that they settled on him (sometimes not once but twice) to be the ideal father for their babies. But would Livingstone be the ideal sperm donor for everyone? Were he to fill in a form on a donor website, how would it read?
Article: 25th October 2011 Read more www.independent.co.uk
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
Sperm donation online: Websites a better alternative to unknown donors?
Recent articles in the news have highlighted the downsides of using unregulated sperm donor websites, portraying them as placing vulnerable women at risk. Is this really the case or is sperm donation online providing a much needed service, which is not being met by fertility clinics alone? Often highlighted are the occasions when male donors try to abuse the system by requesting payments or offering natural insemination (in other words sex) as the best method of conception.
Unfortunately some online forums seem to be dominated by donors chatting to each other and boasting about the number of children they have conceived. There is certainly a downside, which individuals must be aware of when trying to find a known donor. Finding a known donor or co-parent can be like trying to meet a lifelong partner - unfortunately along the journey you may have to encounter men or women which are not likeminded and who you do not connect with, before eventually finding the right one.
This said, despite the media's negative tilt, the option of using a known donor has many upsides, which is why it is becoming such a popular option for many single, gay or infertile couples. So what are the advantages? The obvious one may be cost, with IVF funding being cut by so many regions throughout the UK, many single people or couples may simply not be able to afford fertility treatment through a clinic. However after speaking with Erika the co-founder of Pride Angel, a leading parenting connection website, she believes that this is not the main reason people go down the online sperm donor route.
Erika says ‘Many women choose a connection service, because they want more information about the donor than they receive at a clinic’, ‘They want to understand their personality and mannerisms, after all the donor is going to make up 50% of the child’s genes’. ‘Many single women and lesbian couples, also wish for their child to know of their donor, they want to maintain contact, be it occasional or on a regular basis’ ‘The important factor is educating people about any potential risks and providing the necessary support and guidance regarding health risks and legal rights’.
An article in the Telegraph today wrote‘These unregulated sites are so popular that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) last week announced plans to increase payments made to sperm and egg donors in the hope that this will increase the number of regulated donations’ Connection websites are not obliged to be regulated in any way, unless they are involving themselves in the procurement of gametes. Websites which act purely as connection services put the responsibility, rightly so, on the users to make their own informed decision regarding whether they choose to take their donor to a clinic for treatment or undertake artificial insemination following suitable health screening checks by their GP.
There are dozens of websites providing a donor connection service, however many of these websites do not monitor their donors or control the numbers of connections between donors and recipients. This is why when choosing a website it is important to use one who is being responsible. Speaking with Erika from Pride Angel, she said ‘We are one of the only connection services worldwide who constantly monitor profiles and we suspend any users who are not meeting our criteria’. ‘No mention of natural insemination, payments, shipping of sperm or anonymous donation is allowed. Any users which break this ‘code of conduct’ are suspended.’ ‘Pride Angel also uses a limited message credit system which means, that not only can donors only contact a limited number of recipients, but is also means that donors are more likely to be genuine’.
There have also been many stories in the news recently from donor-conceived children, about their search to find their origins. For some it may be a happy ending, but for many more it is not. With the change in the anonymity law in 2005, we will not be able to see the effects of children wishing to meet their donors, conceived through fertility clinics until 2023. What will be the effect of these reunions? Will there be the issue of rejection by donors or even the devastating possibility of genetic attraction, which has already been estimated to occur in 50% of cases between adopted children and their biological parents or siblings? Genetic attraction tends to only occur when there has not been any previous contact throughout a child’s upbringing with their donor or sibling and does not occur between known donors and their biological children.
Many women are also now considering finding their own egg donor through a donor website, especially when there are such long waiting times for egg donors within the UK, Some recipients wish to meet the donor to find out more about them, and likewise egg donors feel happier donating to a women or couple who they believe will provide a happy environment for their donor offspring. Speaking with one egg donor, they said ‘I was able to select the family to who my eggs were donated to, we had several meetings and together we decided that they would like to tell their child from a young age. I agreed that they are welcome to come round anytime. Their child is now 5 and I have met him 6 times in total. Although genetically he is my child I will never be his mother nor would I ever want that position, I simply helped a wonderful couple become a family.’
A donor conceived child said ‘I know where my genetic mother is and can visit her if I would like to, but my real mother is the mum that brought me up'. Another donor-conceived child said ‘I know who my dad is, even if I only see him occasionally, that means I am no different to any of my friends at school'.
‘Pride Angel receives numerous thank you messages from recipients who have eventually found the right donor and from men who have been able to become parents themselves through co-parenting arrangements’
Surely a solution is for women to be able to use known donors, even if they are found through website connection services, so they can pass on more information to their children about their origins. After all, it is the children’s welfare which is of paramount importance.
Article: 25th October 2011 www.prideangel.com
Unfortunately some online forums seem to be dominated by donors chatting to each other and boasting about the number of children they have conceived. There is certainly a downside, which individuals must be aware of when trying to find a known donor. Finding a known donor or co-parent can be like trying to meet a lifelong partner - unfortunately along the journey you may have to encounter men or women which are not likeminded and who you do not connect with, before eventually finding the right one.
This said, despite the media's negative tilt, the option of using a known donor has many upsides, which is why it is becoming such a popular option for many single, gay or infertile couples. So what are the advantages? The obvious one may be cost, with IVF funding being cut by so many regions throughout the UK, many single people or couples may simply not be able to afford fertility treatment through a clinic. However after speaking with Erika the co-founder of Pride Angel, a leading parenting connection website, she believes that this is not the main reason people go down the online sperm donor route.
Erika says ‘Many women choose a connection service, because they want more information about the donor than they receive at a clinic’, ‘They want to understand their personality and mannerisms, after all the donor is going to make up 50% of the child’s genes’. ‘Many single women and lesbian couples, also wish for their child to know of their donor, they want to maintain contact, be it occasional or on a regular basis’ ‘The important factor is educating people about any potential risks and providing the necessary support and guidance regarding health risks and legal rights’.
An article in the Telegraph today wrote‘These unregulated sites are so popular that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) last week announced plans to increase payments made to sperm and egg donors in the hope that this will increase the number of regulated donations’ Connection websites are not obliged to be regulated in any way, unless they are involving themselves in the procurement of gametes. Websites which act purely as connection services put the responsibility, rightly so, on the users to make their own informed decision regarding whether they choose to take their donor to a clinic for treatment or undertake artificial insemination following suitable health screening checks by their GP.
There are dozens of websites providing a donor connection service, however many of these websites do not monitor their donors or control the numbers of connections between donors and recipients. This is why when choosing a website it is important to use one who is being responsible. Speaking with Erika from Pride Angel, she said ‘We are one of the only connection services worldwide who constantly monitor profiles and we suspend any users who are not meeting our criteria’. ‘No mention of natural insemination, payments, shipping of sperm or anonymous donation is allowed. Any users which break this ‘code of conduct’ are suspended.’ ‘Pride Angel also uses a limited message credit system which means, that not only can donors only contact a limited number of recipients, but is also means that donors are more likely to be genuine’.
There have also been many stories in the news recently from donor-conceived children, about their search to find their origins. For some it may be a happy ending, but for many more it is not. With the change in the anonymity law in 2005, we will not be able to see the effects of children wishing to meet their donors, conceived through fertility clinics until 2023. What will be the effect of these reunions? Will there be the issue of rejection by donors or even the devastating possibility of genetic attraction, which has already been estimated to occur in 50% of cases between adopted children and their biological parents or siblings? Genetic attraction tends to only occur when there has not been any previous contact throughout a child’s upbringing with their donor or sibling and does not occur between known donors and their biological children.
Many women are also now considering finding their own egg donor through a donor website, especially when there are such long waiting times for egg donors within the UK, Some recipients wish to meet the donor to find out more about them, and likewise egg donors feel happier donating to a women or couple who they believe will provide a happy environment for their donor offspring. Speaking with one egg donor, they said ‘I was able to select the family to who my eggs were donated to, we had several meetings and together we decided that they would like to tell their child from a young age. I agreed that they are welcome to come round anytime. Their child is now 5 and I have met him 6 times in total. Although genetically he is my child I will never be his mother nor would I ever want that position, I simply helped a wonderful couple become a family.’
A donor conceived child said ‘I know where my genetic mother is and can visit her if I would like to, but my real mother is the mum that brought me up'. Another donor-conceived child said ‘I know who my dad is, even if I only see him occasionally, that means I am no different to any of my friends at school'.
‘Pride Angel receives numerous thank you messages from recipients who have eventually found the right donor and from men who have been able to become parents themselves through co-parenting arrangements’
Surely a solution is for women to be able to use known donors, even if they are found through website connection services, so they can pass on more information to their children about their origins. After all, it is the children’s welfare which is of paramount importance.
Article: 25th October 2011 www.prideangel.com
Tuesday, 25 October 2011
Sperm donation online: Websites a better alternative to unknown donors?
Recent articles in the news have highlighted the downsides of using unregulated sperm donor websites, portraying them as placing vulnerable women at risk. Is this really the case or is sperm donation online providing a much needed service, which is not being met by fertility clinics alone? Often highlighted are the occasions when male donors try to abuse the system by requesting payments or offering natural insemination (in other words sex) as the best method of conception.
Unfortunately some online forums seem to be dominated by donors chatting to each other and boasting about the number of children they have conceived. There is certainly a downside, which individuals must be aware of when trying to find a known donor. Finding a known donor or co-parent can be like trying to meet a lifelong partner - unfortunately along the journey you may have to encounter men or women which are not likeminded and who you do not connect with, before eventually finding the right one.
This said, despite the media's negative tilt, the option of using a known donor has many upsides, which is why it is becoming such a popular option for many single, gay or infertile couples. So what are the advantages? The obvious one may be cost, with IVF funding being cut by so many regions throughout the UK, many single people or couples may simply not be able to afford fertility treatment through a clinic. However after speaking with Erika the co-founder of Pride Angel, a leading parenting connection website, she believes that this is not the main reason people go down the online sperm donor route.
Erika says ‘Many women choose a connection service, because they want more information about the donor than they receive at a clinic’, ‘They want to understand their personality and mannerisms, after all the donor is going to make up 50% of the child’s genes’. ‘Many single women and lesbian couples, also wish for their child to know of their donor, they want to maintain contact, be it occasional or on a regular basis’ ‘The important factor is educating people about any potential risks and providing the necessary support and guidance regarding health risks and legal rights’.
An article in the Telegraph today wrote‘These unregulated sites are so popular that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) last week announced plans to increase payments made to sperm and egg donors in the hope that this will increase the number of regulated donations’ Connection websites are not obliged to be regulated in any way, unless they are involving themselves in the procurement of gametes. Websites which act purely as connection services put the responsibility, rightly so, on the users to make their own informed decision regarding whether they choose to take their donor to a clinic for treatment or undertake artificial insemination following suitable health screening checks by their GP.
There are dozens of websites providing a donor connection service, however many of these websites do not monitor their donors or control the numbers of connections between donors and recipients. This is why when choosing a website it is important to use one who is being responsible. Speaking with Erika from Pride Angel, she said ‘We are one of the only connection services worldwide who constantly monitor profiles and we suspend any users who are not meeting our criteria’. ‘No mention of natural insemination, payments, shipping of sperm or anonymous donation is allowed. Any users which break this ‘code of conduct’ are suspended.’ ‘Pride Angel also uses a limited message credit system which means, that not only can donors only contact a limited number of recipients, but is also means that donors are more likely to be genuine’.
There have also been many stories in the news recently from donor-conceived children, about their search to find their origins. For some it may be a happy ending, but for many more it is not. With the change in the anonymity law in 2005, we will not be able to see the effects of children wishing to meet their donors, conceived through fertility clinics until 2023. What will be the effect of these reunions? Will there be the issue of rejection by donors or even the devastating possibility of genetic attraction, which has already been estimated to occur in 50% of cases between adopted children and their biological parents or siblings? Genetic attraction tends to only occur when there has not been any previous contact throughout a child’s upbringing with their donor or sibling and does not occur between known donors and their biological children.
Many women are also now considering finding their own egg donor through a donor website, especially when there are such long waiting times for egg donors within the UK, Some recipients wish to meet the donor to find out more about them, and likewise egg donors feel happier donating to a women or couple who they believe will provide a happy environment for their donor offspring. Speaking with one egg donor, they said ‘I was able to select the family to who my eggs were donated to, we had several meetings and together we decided that they would like to tell their child from a young age. I agreed that they are welcome to come round anytime. Their child is now 5 and I have met him 6 times in total. Although genetically he is my child I will never be his mother nor would I ever want that position, I simply helped a wonderful couple become a family.’
A donor conceived child said ‘I know where my genetic mother is and can visit her if I would like to, but my real mother is the mum that brought me up'. Another donor-conceived child said ‘I know who my dad is, even if I only see him occasionally, that means I am no different to any of my friends at school'.
‘Pride Angel receives numerous thank you messages from recipients who have eventually found the right donor and from men who have been able to become parents themselves through co-parenting arrangements’
Surely a solution is for women to be able to use known donors, even if they are found through website connection services, so they can pass on more information to their children about their origins. After all, it is the children’s welfare which is of paramount importance.
Article: 25th October 2011 www.prideangel.com
http://bit.ly/t1iLU8
Unfortunately some online forums seem to be dominated by donors chatting to each other and boasting about the number of children they have conceived. There is certainly a downside, which individuals must be aware of when trying to find a known donor. Finding a known donor or co-parent can be like trying to meet a lifelong partner - unfortunately along the journey you may have to encounter men or women which are not likeminded and who you do not connect with, before eventually finding the right one.
This said, despite the media's negative tilt, the option of using a known donor has many upsides, which is why it is becoming such a popular option for many single, gay or infertile couples. So what are the advantages? The obvious one may be cost, with IVF funding being cut by so many regions throughout the UK, many single people or couples may simply not be able to afford fertility treatment through a clinic. However after speaking with Erika the co-founder of Pride Angel, a leading parenting connection website, she believes that this is not the main reason people go down the online sperm donor route.
Erika says ‘Many women choose a connection service, because they want more information about the donor than they receive at a clinic’, ‘They want to understand their personality and mannerisms, after all the donor is going to make up 50% of the child’s genes’. ‘Many single women and lesbian couples, also wish for their child to know of their donor, they want to maintain contact, be it occasional or on a regular basis’ ‘The important factor is educating people about any potential risks and providing the necessary support and guidance regarding health risks and legal rights’.
An article in the Telegraph today wrote‘These unregulated sites are so popular that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) last week announced plans to increase payments made to sperm and egg donors in the hope that this will increase the number of regulated donations’ Connection websites are not obliged to be regulated in any way, unless they are involving themselves in the procurement of gametes. Websites which act purely as connection services put the responsibility, rightly so, on the users to make their own informed decision regarding whether they choose to take their donor to a clinic for treatment or undertake artificial insemination following suitable health screening checks by their GP.
There are dozens of websites providing a donor connection service, however many of these websites do not monitor their donors or control the numbers of connections between donors and recipients. This is why when choosing a website it is important to use one who is being responsible. Speaking with Erika from Pride Angel, she said ‘We are one of the only connection services worldwide who constantly monitor profiles and we suspend any users who are not meeting our criteria’. ‘No mention of natural insemination, payments, shipping of sperm or anonymous donation is allowed. Any users which break this ‘code of conduct’ are suspended.’ ‘Pride Angel also uses a limited message credit system which means, that not only can donors only contact a limited number of recipients, but is also means that donors are more likely to be genuine’.
There have also been many stories in the news recently from donor-conceived children, about their search to find their origins. For some it may be a happy ending, but for many more it is not. With the change in the anonymity law in 2005, we will not be able to see the effects of children wishing to meet their donors, conceived through fertility clinics until 2023. What will be the effect of these reunions? Will there be the issue of rejection by donors or even the devastating possibility of genetic attraction, which has already been estimated to occur in 50% of cases between adopted children and their biological parents or siblings? Genetic attraction tends to only occur when there has not been any previous contact throughout a child’s upbringing with their donor or sibling and does not occur between known donors and their biological children.
Many women are also now considering finding their own egg donor through a donor website, especially when there are such long waiting times for egg donors within the UK, Some recipients wish to meet the donor to find out more about them, and likewise egg donors feel happier donating to a women or couple who they believe will provide a happy environment for their donor offspring. Speaking with one egg donor, they said ‘I was able to select the family to who my eggs were donated to, we had several meetings and together we decided that they would like to tell their child from a young age. I agreed that they are welcome to come round anytime. Their child is now 5 and I have met him 6 times in total. Although genetically he is my child I will never be his mother nor would I ever want that position, I simply helped a wonderful couple become a family.’
A donor conceived child said ‘I know where my genetic mother is and can visit her if I would like to, but my real mother is the mum that brought me up'. Another donor-conceived child said ‘I know who my dad is, even if I only see him occasionally, that means I am no different to any of my friends at school'.
‘Pride Angel receives numerous thank you messages from recipients who have eventually found the right donor and from men who have been able to become parents themselves through co-parenting arrangements’
Surely a solution is for women to be able to use known donors, even if they are found through website connection services, so they can pass on more information to their children about their origins. After all, it is the children’s welfare which is of paramount importance.
Article: 25th October 2011 www.prideangel.com
http://bit.ly/t1iLU8
Monday, 24 October 2011
Winner of Independent's Pink List 2011
The Independent on Sunday readers were asked to nominate their unsung heroes and heroines who make life as a lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person better – as well as the celebrities who make the world a more entertaining place. Readers responded by sending in more than 1,500 nominations, which boiled down to about 300 separate names.
These were poured over by their panel of expert judges, including two who represented their parties in parliament, two who have represented their countries at sports, a magazine editor, a comedian, four tireless campaigners and a HM Procurator-General.
This years winner was Music teacher, Elly Barnes
Dozens of people emailed The IoS to tell them about Elly Barnes, the teacher who claims the exceptional achievement of eradicating homophobia in her school, and is now helping others to do the same. Some of those who nominated Barnes had worked with her on her "Educate and Celebrate" course for teachers, PGCE students and psychologists, run under the auspices of Ofsted; others are students, past and present. One former pupil said this woman changed her life.
Elly Barnes is so articulate and lively, and so dedicated to educating young people about the importance of accepting ourselves as we are, that it was only a matter of time before she made national headlines.
As music teacher and LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) co-ordinator at Stoke Newington School, she believes that to achieve acceptance, young people need the facts. She says: "It's ignorance that causes homophobia - once educated, attitudes change. Sometimes it's a deep-rooted hatred which can take a long time to change. The best way is to show positive role models."
This can involve using shock tactics, like when she invited black lesbian rapper, Mz.Fontaine to a school assembly. Elly recalls: "She announced straightaway 'I am currently a lesbian and I am transitioning'. "The students were amazed. Mz.Fontaine then spent an afternoon delivering music workshops which were attended by some previously homophobic girls. Together they wrote a 12-minute rap about diversity."
Elly put Hackney's innovative approach to diversity on the national agenda last October when the Guardian ran an article about how lessons on gay history had cut homophobic bullying at the school. "I've been doing this for six years," she says. "When the article came out I got 300 e-mails from schools and parents asking for advice."
Elly has just taken on a new challenge - running diversity sessions for teachers all over the country, helping them to challenge prejudice and celebrate diversity in the classroom.
She adds: "Some schools think they don't have to do it, but they do. Schools have a duty to protect young people and create an environment where staff and students feel safe to be themselves."
Read the names of the other winners and the full Pink List 2011 here
These were poured over by their panel of expert judges, including two who represented their parties in parliament, two who have represented their countries at sports, a magazine editor, a comedian, four tireless campaigners and a HM Procurator-General.
This years winner was Music teacher, Elly Barnes
Dozens of people emailed The IoS to tell them about Elly Barnes, the teacher who claims the exceptional achievement of eradicating homophobia in her school, and is now helping others to do the same. Some of those who nominated Barnes had worked with her on her "Educate and Celebrate" course for teachers, PGCE students and psychologists, run under the auspices of Ofsted; others are students, past and present. One former pupil said this woman changed her life.
Elly Barnes is so articulate and lively, and so dedicated to educating young people about the importance of accepting ourselves as we are, that it was only a matter of time before she made national headlines.
As music teacher and LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) co-ordinator at Stoke Newington School, she believes that to achieve acceptance, young people need the facts. She says: "It's ignorance that causes homophobia - once educated, attitudes change. Sometimes it's a deep-rooted hatred which can take a long time to change. The best way is to show positive role models."
This can involve using shock tactics, like when she invited black lesbian rapper, Mz.Fontaine to a school assembly. Elly recalls: "She announced straightaway 'I am currently a lesbian and I am transitioning'. "The students were amazed. Mz.Fontaine then spent an afternoon delivering music workshops which were attended by some previously homophobic girls. Together they wrote a 12-minute rap about diversity."
Elly put Hackney's innovative approach to diversity on the national agenda last October when the Guardian ran an article about how lessons on gay history had cut homophobic bullying at the school. "I've been doing this for six years," she says. "When the article came out I got 300 e-mails from schools and parents asking for advice."
Elly has just taken on a new challenge - running diversity sessions for teachers all over the country, helping them to challenge prejudice and celebrate diversity in the classroom.
She adds: "Some schools think they don't have to do it, but they do. Schools have a duty to protect young people and create an environment where staff and students feel safe to be themselves."
Read the names of the other winners and the full Pink List 2011 here
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Men's fertility declines with age - IVF sudy shows
Men have ticking biological clocks too, as IVF study shows male fertility declines with age - with even a year making a difference, researchers have warned.
They say that after the age of 41, a man’s odds of fathering a child decline rapidly. And after 45, those who haven’t started a family and want one should start doing something about it.
But with the likes of Des O’Connor having his fifth child at 72, and Rod Stewart becoming father for the eighth time at the age of 66, other experts said the finding should be taken with a pinch of salt.
The warning comes from a study of IVF patients in which the man’s sperm fertilised an egg from a donor. In the context of the study, the use of donor eggs allowed the researchers to separate out the effect of the man’s age from that of the woman’s.
The donor eggs all came from young, healthy women and so any differences in pregnancy rate must be due to the sperm. And the difference was clear, with fertility declining by up to seven per cent with each extra year on a man’s age between 41 and 45. After that, it declined even more rapidly.
The average age of the men whose partners got treatment through IVF was 41. But the average age of those in which the IVF was unsuccessful was 45, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s annual conference heard. The chances of pregnancy fell from 60 per cent at the age of 41 to just 35 per cent for the 45-year-olds.
Researcher Paula Fettback, of the Huntington Medicina Reproductiva clinic in Brazil, said: ‘Age counts ‘Men have a biological clock too. It is not the same as for women but they can’ t wait forever to have children. ‘They have to think about having children, especially after 45.’
A second study presented at the conference backed up the warning. There, fertility plummeted in male mice from a year old – equivalent to middle-age in people. Fewer eggs were fertilised and fewer embryos grew long enough to be used in IVF.
Pregnancies took longer to occur and when they did, the miscarriage rate rocketed from zero using sperm from young animals, to over 60 per cent. The researchers, from the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, said they believed there would be ‘some parallel’ with men.
‘We found an abrupt reproductive deterioration in mid-life, equivalent to humans in their 40s.’ Other studies have found that children of older fathers also run an increased risk of heart defects, autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy, and are almost twice as likely to die before adulthood.
While men constantly make fresh sperm, the ‘machinery’ that makes it can slow down and become defective over time. In addition, genetic errors may creep into sperm as men get older. But other experts said advised would-be fathers not to worry.
Dr Richard Sherbahn, of the Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago, said that while it is likely that male fertility does decline, any difference is likely to be just a few per cent over decades. He added that IVF can compensate for many problems in sperm, in a way that it can’t with eggs.
Charles Kingsland, a consultant gynaecologist at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital and member of the British Fertility Society, questioned the quality of the study and added that the quality of a woman’s eggs is far more important. He advised men who want to stay in good reproductive shape to eat healthily, not smoke, drink only in moderation, keep active and avoid hot baths, as sperm likes cool temperatures.
He added: ‘There are a lot of advantages to being a young father. First and foremost, you’ve got energy. But being an older father also confers certain advantages – stability, wisdom, maybe a bit of financial security but you don’t have the energy. ‘I wouldn’t go rushing off to procreate on the basis that tomorrow my fertility might drop.’
Article: 20th October 2010 www.dailymail.co.uk
They say that after the age of 41, a man’s odds of fathering a child decline rapidly. And after 45, those who haven’t started a family and want one should start doing something about it.
But with the likes of Des O’Connor having his fifth child at 72, and Rod Stewart becoming father for the eighth time at the age of 66, other experts said the finding should be taken with a pinch of salt.
The warning comes from a study of IVF patients in which the man’s sperm fertilised an egg from a donor. In the context of the study, the use of donor eggs allowed the researchers to separate out the effect of the man’s age from that of the woman’s.
The donor eggs all came from young, healthy women and so any differences in pregnancy rate must be due to the sperm. And the difference was clear, with fertility declining by up to seven per cent with each extra year on a man’s age between 41 and 45. After that, it declined even more rapidly.
The average age of the men whose partners got treatment through IVF was 41. But the average age of those in which the IVF was unsuccessful was 45, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s annual conference heard. The chances of pregnancy fell from 60 per cent at the age of 41 to just 35 per cent for the 45-year-olds.
Researcher Paula Fettback, of the Huntington Medicina Reproductiva clinic in Brazil, said: ‘Age counts ‘Men have a biological clock too. It is not the same as for women but they can’ t wait forever to have children. ‘They have to think about having children, especially after 45.’
A second study presented at the conference backed up the warning. There, fertility plummeted in male mice from a year old – equivalent to middle-age in people. Fewer eggs were fertilised and fewer embryos grew long enough to be used in IVF.
Pregnancies took longer to occur and when they did, the miscarriage rate rocketed from zero using sperm from young animals, to over 60 per cent. The researchers, from the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, said they believed there would be ‘some parallel’ with men.
‘We found an abrupt reproductive deterioration in mid-life, equivalent to humans in their 40s.’ Other studies have found that children of older fathers also run an increased risk of heart defects, autism, schizophrenia and epilepsy, and are almost twice as likely to die before adulthood.
While men constantly make fresh sperm, the ‘machinery’ that makes it can slow down and become defective over time. In addition, genetic errors may creep into sperm as men get older. But other experts said advised would-be fathers not to worry.
Dr Richard Sherbahn, of the Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago, said that while it is likely that male fertility does decline, any difference is likely to be just a few per cent over decades. He added that IVF can compensate for many problems in sperm, in a way that it can’t with eggs.
Charles Kingsland, a consultant gynaecologist at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital and member of the British Fertility Society, questioned the quality of the study and added that the quality of a woman’s eggs is far more important. He advised men who want to stay in good reproductive shape to eat healthily, not smoke, drink only in moderation, keep active and avoid hot baths, as sperm likes cool temperatures.
He added: ‘There are a lot of advantages to being a young father. First and foremost, you’ve got energy. But being an older father also confers certain advantages – stability, wisdom, maybe a bit of financial security but you don’t have the energy. ‘I wouldn’t go rushing off to procreate on the basis that tomorrow my fertility might drop.’
Article: 20th October 2010 www.dailymail.co.uk
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
HFEA to decide upon payment for sperm and egg donors
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will decide whether to increase the level of compensation paid to sperm donors and egg donors, tomorrow. It is illegal for donor to be paid within the UK, but currently they may receive up to £250 per course or cycle of donation, plus travel expenses. Many experts in the field believe that these modest payments may be holding potential donors back at a time of real shortage.
In an attempt to increase sperm and egg donors, the HFEA will decide upon a suggested increase, giving egg donors £750 a time – as they do in Spain – while adopting the Danish system of £35 per donation for men. Over a donation course this could amount to at least £450. But before you decide to rush to the local clinic to cash in, be warned this extra money reflects the fact that there is much more to donation than most people think.
The National Gamete Donation Trust says that women must undergo a series of tests to donate their eggs (including psychological and blood pressure), before being given courses of hormones to suppress their menstrual cycle and then stimulate the growth and maturation of eggs. The eggs are then harvested under either general or local anesthetic, through a needle injected into the vagina. Therefore any increase in compensation would be intended to reflect this commitment.
Donating sperm through a clinic does not simply involve being sent off into a room with a magazine and cup. Rather blood samples are taken, sperm is tested and donors will then be asked to attend the clinic once or twice a week for three to four months (abstaining from sex and alcohol for three to five days before each visit). After six months, donors are tested once more to make sure they had not contracted any infections at the time of giving the donations (as some infections do not show for several months).
Donors must then seriously consider the fact that any child created from donor sperm or eggs now has the right to know of their donor’s identity. With all this involved, it's a wonder the price is not much higher, but as said by the National Donation Trust, money is far from the point for donors: "People do this through the kindness of their hearts to help others."
Article extracts: 17th October 2011 www.guardian.co.uk
In an attempt to increase sperm and egg donors, the HFEA will decide upon a suggested increase, giving egg donors £750 a time – as they do in Spain – while adopting the Danish system of £35 per donation for men. Over a donation course this could amount to at least £450. But before you decide to rush to the local clinic to cash in, be warned this extra money reflects the fact that there is much more to donation than most people think.
The National Gamete Donation Trust says that women must undergo a series of tests to donate their eggs (including psychological and blood pressure), before being given courses of hormones to suppress their menstrual cycle and then stimulate the growth and maturation of eggs. The eggs are then harvested under either general or local anesthetic, through a needle injected into the vagina. Therefore any increase in compensation would be intended to reflect this commitment.
Donating sperm through a clinic does not simply involve being sent off into a room with a magazine and cup. Rather blood samples are taken, sperm is tested and donors will then be asked to attend the clinic once or twice a week for three to four months (abstaining from sex and alcohol for three to five days before each visit). After six months, donors are tested once more to make sure they had not contracted any infections at the time of giving the donations (as some infections do not show for several months).
Donors must then seriously consider the fact that any child created from donor sperm or eggs now has the right to know of their donor’s identity. With all this involved, it's a wonder the price is not much higher, but as said by the National Donation Trust, money is far from the point for donors: "People do this through the kindness of their hearts to help others."
Article extracts: 17th October 2011 www.guardian.co.uk
Monday, 17 October 2011
The Fertility Show, London, Olympia 4-5th November 2011
Are you considering having a baby?
Maybe you are finding it difficult getting pregnant. Whether you wish to know how fertile you are, considering sperm donation, egg donation or IVF, then why not visit The Fertility Show, 4-5th November Olympia, London.
When Friday 4 November 2011: 10am - 6pm
Saturday 5 November 2011: 10am - 5pm
Where Olympia 2, Hammersmith Road, London W14. Olympia is located in the centre of London on Hammersmith Road, near High Street Kensington
Just thinking about starting a family or been trying for ages? Find out what you need to know at The Fertility Show.
- 100 exhibitors
- 60 talks from experts
- Medical and complementary alternatives
- Leading UK and overseas clinics
- Fertility assessments and treatments
- Advice for everyone including single women and same sex parents
- A successful and proven event, now in its 3rd year
For those just thinking of having a baby:
- Zita West on how to get pregnant
- Marilyn Glenville on fertility-boosting nutrition
- Charles Kingsland on preparing for pregnancy
- Testing your ovarian reserve
For people finding it difficult to get pregnant:
- The main approaches to treatment
- The fertility rollercoaster
- What men need to know about their fertility
- Tackling particular problems and scenarios
For those considering IVF:
- How to choose a clinic
- Treatment abroad
- What the NHS will pay for
- Improving the odds
Britain's leading fertility specialists on:
- Reduced ovarian reserve
- Egg freezing and reproductive surgery
- PCOS, recurrent miscarriage, endometriosis
- Complementary medicine
- Specific advice for single women, older women and alternative parenting
- International surrogacy and donors abroad
- Coping strategies and managing relationships through treatment
Book your tickets for The Fertility Show here.
Pride Angel will be exhibiting at The Fertility Show this year, so why not come along and have a chat with us about using a known sperm donor egg donor or home insemination, visit us at 'Stand 20'.
Maybe you are finding it difficult getting pregnant. Whether you wish to know how fertile you are, considering sperm donation, egg donation or IVF, then why not visit The Fertility Show, 4-5th November Olympia, London.
When Friday 4 November 2011: 10am - 6pm
Saturday 5 November 2011: 10am - 5pm
Where Olympia 2, Hammersmith Road, London W14. Olympia is located in the centre of London on Hammersmith Road, near High Street Kensington
Just thinking about starting a family or been trying for ages? Find out what you need to know at The Fertility Show.
- 100 exhibitors
- 60 talks from experts
- Medical and complementary alternatives
- Leading UK and overseas clinics
- Fertility assessments and treatments
- Advice for everyone including single women and same sex parents
- A successful and proven event, now in its 3rd year
For those just thinking of having a baby:
- Zita West on how to get pregnant
- Marilyn Glenville on fertility-boosting nutrition
- Charles Kingsland on preparing for pregnancy
- Testing your ovarian reserve
For people finding it difficult to get pregnant:
- The main approaches to treatment
- The fertility rollercoaster
- What men need to know about their fertility
- Tackling particular problems and scenarios
For those considering IVF:
- How to choose a clinic
- Treatment abroad
- What the NHS will pay for
- Improving the odds
Britain's leading fertility specialists on:
- Reduced ovarian reserve
- Egg freezing and reproductive surgery
- PCOS, recurrent miscarriage, endometriosis
- Complementary medicine
- Specific advice for single women, older women and alternative parenting
- International surrogacy and donors abroad
- Coping strategies and managing relationships through treatment
Book your tickets for The Fertility Show here.
Pride Angel will be exhibiting at The Fertility Show this year, so why not come along and have a chat with us about using a known sperm donor egg donor or home insemination, visit us at 'Stand 20'.
Friday, 14 October 2011
International surrogacy parents talk to BBC Radio 4 about their experience
Parents Michelle and Paul (names changed) spoke to BBC Radio 4′s World at One today about their experiences of international surrogacy, and the problems with surrogacy law in the UK. Their legal case (in which we represented them successfully) was reported anonymously by the High Court last December (as Re L (a minor) 2010) and received national press coverage at the time. Michelle and Paul took the brave decision today to speak about their personal experiences, in order to highlight the difficulties they have faced.
As Michelle and Paul explained, they entered into a surrogacy arrangement in Illinois after a very long and difficult journey of failed IVF and miscarriages. They did so in accordance with the law in Illinois and underwent a thorough vetting process with a clear legal procedure designed to protect all involved. Under Illinois law, they were treated as the legal parents of their child from the outset.
However, UK law treated their surrogate and her husband as the legal parents, despite the fact that neither had any biological connection with the child. Michelle and Paul therefore needed an English High Court order to become Mum and Dad in the UK.
One of the key issues for the court here to consider was the mismatch between UK and Illinois law regarding the issue of payments to their surrogate. In Illinois, payments for a surrogate’s inconvenience and discomfort can legitimately be made, although payments for a child are not allowed. In the UK, the law refers to ‘reasonable expenses’ (with no definition of what that means) but confusingly also gives the court a specific power to ‘authorise’ other payments. Ultimately in this case Mr Justice Hedley, noting that Michelle and Paul were the ‘most careful and conscientious of parents’, agreed to authorise the payments so that they could be approved as legal parents. However, he did not accept that the inconvenience payments to their surrogate were reasonable expenses.
It’s a story with a happy outcome, but one which shows that working out what is acceptable to pay for surrogacy at home and abroad is tricky.
In Illinois there is a clear legal framework in which payments are agreed and set out in writing at the outset (following counselling, psychological assessments and legal advice for all). If everything is done correctly at the outset, then the child is a part of the intended parents’ family throughout.
There is no such certainty under UK law. Every judge can interpret what is ‘reasonable’ differently, and the issue will only be considered after the birth of the child when the payments have been long since made, by which time there will always be tremendous pressure on the court to make an order protecting the child’s welfare. As Michelle pointed out so poignantly, the value paid to the surrogate in this case was in fact no more than what has been accepted as being reasonable expenses for surrogacy in the UK, but it was not considered expenses in their case because the arrangement was an international one set up within a different legal framework.
We are left asking – where the values being paid for surrogacy are comparable, does it make any sense to treat them differently just because they are called compensation rather than expenses, and just because they are agreed in writing at the outset? Would it not be better to have a more upfront system in the UK which resolves these issues at the start, rather than after the event?
As Michelle and Paul explained, they entered into a surrogacy arrangement in Illinois after a very long and difficult journey of failed IVF and miscarriages. They did so in accordance with the law in Illinois and underwent a thorough vetting process with a clear legal procedure designed to protect all involved. Under Illinois law, they were treated as the legal parents of their child from the outset.
However, UK law treated their surrogate and her husband as the legal parents, despite the fact that neither had any biological connection with the child. Michelle and Paul therefore needed an English High Court order to become Mum and Dad in the UK.
One of the key issues for the court here to consider was the mismatch between UK and Illinois law regarding the issue of payments to their surrogate. In Illinois, payments for a surrogate’s inconvenience and discomfort can legitimately be made, although payments for a child are not allowed. In the UK, the law refers to ‘reasonable expenses’ (with no definition of what that means) but confusingly also gives the court a specific power to ‘authorise’ other payments. Ultimately in this case Mr Justice Hedley, noting that Michelle and Paul were the ‘most careful and conscientious of parents’, agreed to authorise the payments so that they could be approved as legal parents. However, he did not accept that the inconvenience payments to their surrogate were reasonable expenses.
It’s a story with a happy outcome, but one which shows that working out what is acceptable to pay for surrogacy at home and abroad is tricky.
In Illinois there is a clear legal framework in which payments are agreed and set out in writing at the outset (following counselling, psychological assessments and legal advice for all). If everything is done correctly at the outset, then the child is a part of the intended parents’ family throughout.
There is no such certainty under UK law. Every judge can interpret what is ‘reasonable’ differently, and the issue will only be considered after the birth of the child when the payments have been long since made, by which time there will always be tremendous pressure on the court to make an order protecting the child’s welfare. As Michelle pointed out so poignantly, the value paid to the surrogate in this case was in fact no more than what has been accepted as being reasonable expenses for surrogacy in the UK, but it was not considered expenses in their case because the arrangement was an international one set up within a different legal framework.
We are left asking – where the values being paid for surrogacy are comparable, does it make any sense to treat them differently just because they are called compensation rather than expenses, and just because they are agreed in writing at the outset? Would it not be better to have a more upfront system in the UK which resolves these issues at the start, rather than after the event?
Wednesday, 12 October 2011
Fertility treatment won by five Canadian couples
Five couples will begin free fertility treatment as winners in an Ottawa radio station contest dismissed as "tacky" by an infertility awareness group, but praised as "amazing" by one of the women who will undergo the procedure.
"If you've never been through it you don't know," said Carly Perkins, 23, while dismissing criticism of the controversial Hot 89.9 Win a Baby contest.
"The chance to just have a baby is incredible. What they're doing is absolutely amazing, and there's nothing negative in my head at all about it," she said.
Carly and her husband, Benjamin, have been together nine years and are coming up on their first wedding anniversary. The Athens, Ont., couple was stunned by the news.
"I was shocked, amazed and happy for everyone. I'm so thrilled that we all got an opportunity," said Carly. "It's a chance to have a child, you can't put words to that," she said.
Benjamin, 25, who is in a wheelchair, said a car accident in January 2007 resulted in him breaking his neck. But the fact that he is a quadriplegic hasn't deterred him from trying to start a family.
"It took a long time to recover but I definitely wouldn't be able to do it without my wife. We were quite informed as to what to do and which way to go. The way that science is now there are ways around everything pretty much," said Benjamin, adding that they consulted with other people who are quadriplegics.
But a Canadian infertility awareness group has branded the contest as "tacky." Beverly Hanck, executive director of the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada, acknowledged the contest generated plenty of publicity for the station, but caused undue pain for the five couples who were contest finalists.
"Pain is personal and having to expose that in order to have a chance of getting treatment ... is a sad state of affairs," said Hanck, who heads the Montreal-based group. "I found it (contest) really tacky, I mean it's like you're trying to give a human being. I just don't find it nice at all," she said.
About 400 couples applied for the contest which was marked by controversy over ethical questions after it began in early September. The five couples will receive up to three rounds of invitro fertility treatments which could cost up to $35,000 per couple. Hanck said she feels for the plight of the couples, but added there could be grave emotional ramifications for any new offspring if the treatments are successful.
"My thought was 'what's the kid going to think? He's going to think he was won in a contest like a stuffed teddy bear. Did anybody think about that? Did anybody think about how the pain would be exacerbated for the ones that didn't have an opportunity to win the contest,'" she said. Hanck said she lobbied the Ontario government for about seven years to pay for fertility treatments for couples but to no avail.
To read more go to http://bit.ly/oRP8jA
"If you've never been through it you don't know," said Carly Perkins, 23, while dismissing criticism of the controversial Hot 89.9 Win a Baby contest.
"The chance to just have a baby is incredible. What they're doing is absolutely amazing, and there's nothing negative in my head at all about it," she said.
Carly and her husband, Benjamin, have been together nine years and are coming up on their first wedding anniversary. The Athens, Ont., couple was stunned by the news.
"I was shocked, amazed and happy for everyone. I'm so thrilled that we all got an opportunity," said Carly. "It's a chance to have a child, you can't put words to that," she said.
Benjamin, 25, who is in a wheelchair, said a car accident in January 2007 resulted in him breaking his neck. But the fact that he is a quadriplegic hasn't deterred him from trying to start a family.
"It took a long time to recover but I definitely wouldn't be able to do it without my wife. We were quite informed as to what to do and which way to go. The way that science is now there are ways around everything pretty much," said Benjamin, adding that they consulted with other people who are quadriplegics.
But a Canadian infertility awareness group has branded the contest as "tacky." Beverly Hanck, executive director of the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada, acknowledged the contest generated plenty of publicity for the station, but caused undue pain for the five couples who were contest finalists.
"Pain is personal and having to expose that in order to have a chance of getting treatment ... is a sad state of affairs," said Hanck, who heads the Montreal-based group. "I found it (contest) really tacky, I mean it's like you're trying to give a human being. I just don't find it nice at all," she said.
About 400 couples applied for the contest which was marked by controversy over ethical questions after it began in early September. The five couples will receive up to three rounds of invitro fertility treatments which could cost up to $35,000 per couple. Hanck said she feels for the plight of the couples, but added there could be grave emotional ramifications for any new offspring if the treatments are successful.
"My thought was 'what's the kid going to think? He's going to think he was won in a contest like a stuffed teddy bear. Did anybody think about that? Did anybody think about how the pain would be exacerbated for the ones that didn't have an opportunity to win the contest,'" she said. Hanck said she lobbied the Ontario government for about seven years to pay for fertility treatments for couples but to no avail.
To read more go to http://bit.ly/oRP8jA
Monday, 10 October 2011
Coronation street star Charlie Condou talks about his 'Life as a gay dad'
Charlie Condou, Coronation Street star, has always wanted to become a dad and has now become a well known 'gay celebrity dad'. But, he says, what's important is the parenting, not the fact that his daughter has three parents.
I left the Granada studios in Manchester after work one day and jumped into a cab, heading for the station and then a London train and home. The cab driver looked at me in the mirror, gave a little smile and said: "So, when's the baby due?" Not "Hello" or "I know you", or even "I read in the Sun today …" but I'm getting used to the surrealness that sometimes accompanies being part of Coronation Street. It is, after all, the world's longest-running soap opera. And I'm a friendly, polite sort of bloke.
Me: "January, still a while to go."
Cabbie: "Right, so that's, what, a two-year gap between this one and your daughter?" OK, so the driver is clearly a Corrie fan but, even so, that's some detail he has retained.
Me: "Yes, that's right, she'll be two-and-a-bit when the new one comes along."
Cabbie: "So, how does it work then?"
I get this a lot – people are curious about the logistics of my child-rearing arrangements, I understand that. While not the rarity it once was, gay parenting is still something that few people have direct experience of, and it is only natural that they ask questions.
Me: "Well, our daughter spends half her time at her mother's house and half her time with me and my partner. We co-parent; it works pretty well."
Cabbie: "And did you and the mum have sex?"
Me: "Er …"
Thankfully, I am released from having to respond as the station hoves into view, but it is not the first time, nor I imagine will it be the last, that a total stranger has asked me about my sex life. Such is the life of a "gay celebrity dad".
Gay celebrity dad. It's funny because those first two words seem to dictate everything about the way the world reacts to me these days, and yet they are in many ways meaningless to me. I don't feel like a gay dad, any more than I feel like a celebrity dad. When I'm with my family, caring for my daughter, watching the little bean jump around on the ultrasound screen, I just feel like a "dad". My day-to-day experience of the ups and downs of parenting are the same as everyone else's. I feel the same frustration as any other parent when my daughter fills her nappy just as we're heading out of the door, and the same ridiculous pride when she lisps her way through Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
Even our shared residence arrangements with her mother are not really any different from those of millions of divorced and separated parents. Perhaps because my own upbringing is a far-from-unusual 21st-century jumble of step-parents and half-siblings, the quirkiness of my current situation feels unremarkable.
And yet, at least to the wider world, it is remarkable. And, because of that, I feel that maybe I do have some responsibility to open up, to talk about my life, and to let strangers ask personal questions.
When I was a teenager, coming out and coming to terms with being gay, one of the hardest parts of that process was dealing with the fear that I would never have kids. I'd wanted to be a dad for as long as I could remember – aged four, coming home from nursery in tears because they always picked girls to bath the dollies at the end of the day. Gay parenting didn't exist then, at least not in any public way. There were men, often estranged from their kids, who had tried marriage in their 20s before coming out and leaving their families. It was easier for lesbians, of course, though still never spoken about, but gay men and kids? Unheard of. I know what it would have meant to me then to have had role models to look up to. To see gay men in loving relationships, raising children together and building families would have removed so much fear from my teenage years and made my path to self-acceptance smoother.
To read more go to http://bit.ly/r4UOg1
I left the Granada studios in Manchester after work one day and jumped into a cab, heading for the station and then a London train and home. The cab driver looked at me in the mirror, gave a little smile and said: "So, when's the baby due?" Not "Hello" or "I know you", or even "I read in the Sun today …" but I'm getting used to the surrealness that sometimes accompanies being part of Coronation Street. It is, after all, the world's longest-running soap opera. And I'm a friendly, polite sort of bloke.
Me: "January, still a while to go."
Cabbie: "Right, so that's, what, a two-year gap between this one and your daughter?" OK, so the driver is clearly a Corrie fan but, even so, that's some detail he has retained.
Me: "Yes, that's right, she'll be two-and-a-bit when the new one comes along."
Cabbie: "So, how does it work then?"
I get this a lot – people are curious about the logistics of my child-rearing arrangements, I understand that. While not the rarity it once was, gay parenting is still something that few people have direct experience of, and it is only natural that they ask questions.
Me: "Well, our daughter spends half her time at her mother's house and half her time with me and my partner. We co-parent; it works pretty well."
Cabbie: "And did you and the mum have sex?"
Me: "Er …"
Thankfully, I am released from having to respond as the station hoves into view, but it is not the first time, nor I imagine will it be the last, that a total stranger has asked me about my sex life. Such is the life of a "gay celebrity dad".
Gay celebrity dad. It's funny because those first two words seem to dictate everything about the way the world reacts to me these days, and yet they are in many ways meaningless to me. I don't feel like a gay dad, any more than I feel like a celebrity dad. When I'm with my family, caring for my daughter, watching the little bean jump around on the ultrasound screen, I just feel like a "dad". My day-to-day experience of the ups and downs of parenting are the same as everyone else's. I feel the same frustration as any other parent when my daughter fills her nappy just as we're heading out of the door, and the same ridiculous pride when she lisps her way through Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.
Even our shared residence arrangements with her mother are not really any different from those of millions of divorced and separated parents. Perhaps because my own upbringing is a far-from-unusual 21st-century jumble of step-parents and half-siblings, the quirkiness of my current situation feels unremarkable.
And yet, at least to the wider world, it is remarkable. And, because of that, I feel that maybe I do have some responsibility to open up, to talk about my life, and to let strangers ask personal questions.
When I was a teenager, coming out and coming to terms with being gay, one of the hardest parts of that process was dealing with the fear that I would never have kids. I'd wanted to be a dad for as long as I could remember – aged four, coming home from nursery in tears because they always picked girls to bath the dollies at the end of the day. Gay parenting didn't exist then, at least not in any public way. There were men, often estranged from their kids, who had tried marriage in their 20s before coming out and leaving their families. It was easier for lesbians, of course, though still never spoken about, but gay men and kids? Unheard of. I know what it would have meant to me then to have had role models to look up to. To see gay men in loving relationships, raising children together and building families would have removed so much fear from my teenage years and made my path to self-acceptance smoother.
To read more go to http://bit.ly/r4UOg1
Sunday, 9 October 2011
Win a baby competition in Canada, receives criticism from fertility groups
Fertility groups have branded a Canadian radio station "tacky and distasteful" after it launched a competition to "win a baby".
Ottawa music station Hot 89.9 unveiled the contest on its breakfast show last month, offering three rounds of fertility treatment worth $35,000 (£21,700) to the contestant who convinced listeners and a panel of judges, including fertility specialists, they were most deserving of the prize. Those entering were asked to write 100 words on why they should win.
Advertisements featuring photographs of babies beside the slogan "she could be yours" and "are you my mommy?" were splashed around the city. The station in Ontario, where fertility treatment is not publicly funded, has received 400 applications from a diverse range of people including same-sex couples, single women and cancer patients. The winner will be announced on 10 October.
The contest was described as "an excellent idea" by one applicant, Kristy Middleton Leduc, who saw the posters and wondered if the station was "giving away babies". She and her husband have tried unsuccessfully to conceive for the last two and a half years. She said: "I would have liked [the competition] a little less in your face. Seeing the baby and wanting it so bad, something doesn't fit with it."
Gillian Wood entered in the hope of winning fertility treatment to conceive her second child but did not reach the final. She said: "When people reach the end of the rope, what are [they] going to do?". Her first child was conceived through IVF after six years of medical problems and treatment costing $38,000.
The competition and its marketing campaign were widely criticised after messages such as "see who you think deserves to win a baby" were broadcast to encourage listeners to vote.
Beverly Hanck, executive director of the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada, dismissed the contest as tacky and distasteful. She said: "The station is clearly capitalising on vulnerable patients who are desperate to have a family. Has anyone stopped to think how the hundreds of patients who do not win are going to feel?"
Toronto fertility counsellor Jan Silverman said she objected to "commodification of babies, turning babies into products" but added that the contest raised awareness about fertility issues and the high cost of treatment faced by one in six Ontario couples.
However, the station defended the competition. Breakfast show presenter Jeff Mauler denied that the competition exploited vulnerable people. "Read the rules and regulations and listen to the radio and then you will understand what the bigger picture is," he said. "We are trying to do a good thing for a family which can't conceive." He said no pressure would be placed on winners to reveal their identities. "We wanted to shock people, get them talking ... capture people's imagination," said Mauler.
Hot 89.9 is the latest Canadian radio station to use shock tactics to win listeners. Other recent prizes have included a Russian bride and breast implants.
Ottawa music station Hot 89.9 unveiled the contest on its breakfast show last month, offering three rounds of fertility treatment worth $35,000 (£21,700) to the contestant who convinced listeners and a panel of judges, including fertility specialists, they were most deserving of the prize. Those entering were asked to write 100 words on why they should win.
Advertisements featuring photographs of babies beside the slogan "she could be yours" and "are you my mommy?" were splashed around the city. The station in Ontario, where fertility treatment is not publicly funded, has received 400 applications from a diverse range of people including same-sex couples, single women and cancer patients. The winner will be announced on 10 October.
The contest was described as "an excellent idea" by one applicant, Kristy Middleton Leduc, who saw the posters and wondered if the station was "giving away babies". She and her husband have tried unsuccessfully to conceive for the last two and a half years. She said: "I would have liked [the competition] a little less in your face. Seeing the baby and wanting it so bad, something doesn't fit with it."
Gillian Wood entered in the hope of winning fertility treatment to conceive her second child but did not reach the final. She said: "When people reach the end of the rope, what are [they] going to do?". Her first child was conceived through IVF after six years of medical problems and treatment costing $38,000.
The competition and its marketing campaign were widely criticised after messages such as "see who you think deserves to win a baby" were broadcast to encourage listeners to vote.
Beverly Hanck, executive director of the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada, dismissed the contest as tacky and distasteful. She said: "The station is clearly capitalising on vulnerable patients who are desperate to have a family. Has anyone stopped to think how the hundreds of patients who do not win are going to feel?"
Toronto fertility counsellor Jan Silverman said she objected to "commodification of babies, turning babies into products" but added that the contest raised awareness about fertility issues and the high cost of treatment faced by one in six Ontario couples.
However, the station defended the competition. Breakfast show presenter Jeff Mauler denied that the competition exploited vulnerable people. "Read the rules and regulations and listen to the radio and then you will understand what the bigger picture is," he said. "We are trying to do a good thing for a family which can't conceive." He said no pressure would be placed on winners to reveal their identities. "We wanted to shock people, get them talking ... capture people's imagination," said Mauler.
Hot 89.9 is the latest Canadian radio station to use shock tactics to win listeners. Other recent prizes have included a Russian bride and breast implants.
Thursday, 6 October 2011
Donor conceived story 'My dad was a sperm donor'
Sperm donation is often seen as a gift to thousands of infertile couples, who find joy and completion in a child that might not otherwise exist. But their children sometimes find that joy bound with longing, loss and lifelong confusion about their true identity.
Narelle Grech knows the details by heart: his code name is T5. He is brown-haired and brown-eyed with O-positive blood type.
He's probably in his 50s and attended university. He stands about 173 centimetres. His surname starts with T and he is likely to be Maltese.
These scant points are Narelle's only information about the man who is her biological father, a man who has occupied Narelle's thoughts and deeds for much of the past 13 years since her parents revealed that she was conceived with sperm donated to a fertility clinic.
"When I was a teenager, I carried that information around with me on a scrap of paper, the way other kids carried a photograph of their dad," she says. "It was my way of keeping a link to him because I had nothing else."
Narelle remembers her parents sitting her and her older sister down at the family dining table one Sunday afternoon, her mother telling her that she was conceived with the help of another man's sperm and how much they loved her.
At first, she laughed it off, thinking it was cool to be different. "But, later that night, I was washing my face in front of the bathroom mirror and I realised that everything I thought I knew about myself had vanished," she says.
"The man I thought was my father wasn't and half the family I thought was mine wasn't related to me. I started crying uncontrollably. Almost from that moment, I wanted to find him. Not because I wanted another father, but because I wanted to discover who I really am."
Narelle is one of the hidden generations of Australians given life by our ever-expanding technological and scientific expertise. She was born in 1983, at a time when donor conception was still in its relative infancy and donors gave their sperm anonymously. She is one of hundreds of people Australia-wide who are today searching for their biological antecedents, but may never find them.
At the heart of the dilemma is a delicate balancing act between the competing rights of offspring and their donors. Offspring feel they have an emotional and medical right to know their biological history. Yet, while many donors are happy to be contacted, others gave their genetic material in a spirit of goodwill to childless families, in the belief that their identities would remain anonymous.
Rightly or wrongly, they fear a knock on the door might tear their families apart or lead to claims on their estates. There is another even more pressing reason why Narelle needs to find her biological father.
In May, doctors diagnosed her with advanced bowel cancer, which doctors say may kill her within the next five years. Her cancer, discovered after she suffered severe abdominal pain one morning, is the most aggressive kind and, though she is just 28, is already classified at stage four.
"The galling thing is that doctors suspect the cancer is genetically linked," says Narelle. "My mother's family has no history of cancer. The possibility is that I've inherited a genetic predisposition from my biological father." The diagnosis is a nightmare come true for Narelle. For more than a decade, she has sought, without success, the identity of the man who helped her parents conceive her.
While that has eluded her, she has discovered something else, something that now keeps her awake at night. She has, she says, eight half-siblings scattered around Victoria and possibly Australia, all created with her biological father's sperm. "I have eight brothers and sisters out there who I've never met, but who all share some of the same genetic building blocks as me and that terrifies me," she says, curled up on a sofa in her suburban Melbourne home.
"Each one may be a genetic time bomb waiting to go off and it's probable that they don't know anything about it." An unfortunate combination of disparate, sometimes contradictory laws across state boundaries, poor record-keeping and bureaucratic inertia means that Narelle and others like her may never find the answers they are seeking so desperately.
Article: 5th October Australian Women's weekly aww.ninemsn.com.au
This story shows how important it is for donor conceived to be able to receive more information about their donor, something which Pride Angel strongly supports. If you are considering conceiving using donor sperm or eggs, why not think about the option of finding a known donor through a connection service. This will not only enable you to discover more details about the donor such as their characteristics and personality, but most importantly you will have more information to pass onto your child and even have the ability of maintaining a level of contact, between donor and child.
Narelle Grech knows the details by heart: his code name is T5. He is brown-haired and brown-eyed with O-positive blood type.
He's probably in his 50s and attended university. He stands about 173 centimetres. His surname starts with T and he is likely to be Maltese.
These scant points are Narelle's only information about the man who is her biological father, a man who has occupied Narelle's thoughts and deeds for much of the past 13 years since her parents revealed that she was conceived with sperm donated to a fertility clinic.
"When I was a teenager, I carried that information around with me on a scrap of paper, the way other kids carried a photograph of their dad," she says. "It was my way of keeping a link to him because I had nothing else."
Narelle remembers her parents sitting her and her older sister down at the family dining table one Sunday afternoon, her mother telling her that she was conceived with the help of another man's sperm and how much they loved her.
At first, she laughed it off, thinking it was cool to be different. "But, later that night, I was washing my face in front of the bathroom mirror and I realised that everything I thought I knew about myself had vanished," she says.
"The man I thought was my father wasn't and half the family I thought was mine wasn't related to me. I started crying uncontrollably. Almost from that moment, I wanted to find him. Not because I wanted another father, but because I wanted to discover who I really am."
Narelle is one of the hidden generations of Australians given life by our ever-expanding technological and scientific expertise. She was born in 1983, at a time when donor conception was still in its relative infancy and donors gave their sperm anonymously. She is one of hundreds of people Australia-wide who are today searching for their biological antecedents, but may never find them.
At the heart of the dilemma is a delicate balancing act between the competing rights of offspring and their donors. Offspring feel they have an emotional and medical right to know their biological history. Yet, while many donors are happy to be contacted, others gave their genetic material in a spirit of goodwill to childless families, in the belief that their identities would remain anonymous.
Rightly or wrongly, they fear a knock on the door might tear their families apart or lead to claims on their estates. There is another even more pressing reason why Narelle needs to find her biological father.
In May, doctors diagnosed her with advanced bowel cancer, which doctors say may kill her within the next five years. Her cancer, discovered after she suffered severe abdominal pain one morning, is the most aggressive kind and, though she is just 28, is already classified at stage four.
"The galling thing is that doctors suspect the cancer is genetically linked," says Narelle. "My mother's family has no history of cancer. The possibility is that I've inherited a genetic predisposition from my biological father." The diagnosis is a nightmare come true for Narelle. For more than a decade, she has sought, without success, the identity of the man who helped her parents conceive her.
While that has eluded her, she has discovered something else, something that now keeps her awake at night. She has, she says, eight half-siblings scattered around Victoria and possibly Australia, all created with her biological father's sperm. "I have eight brothers and sisters out there who I've never met, but who all share some of the same genetic building blocks as me and that terrifies me," she says, curled up on a sofa in her suburban Melbourne home.
"Each one may be a genetic time bomb waiting to go off and it's probable that they don't know anything about it." An unfortunate combination of disparate, sometimes contradictory laws across state boundaries, poor record-keeping and bureaucratic inertia means that Narelle and others like her may never find the answers they are seeking so desperately.
Article: 5th October Australian Women's weekly aww.ninemsn.com.au
This story shows how important it is for donor conceived to be able to receive more information about their donor, something which Pride Angel strongly supports. If you are considering conceiving using donor sperm or eggs, why not think about the option of finding a known donor through a connection service. This will not only enable you to discover more details about the donor such as their characteristics and personality, but most importantly you will have more information to pass onto your child and even have the ability of maintaining a level of contact, between donor and child.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Adoption of babies within the UK is becoming even more difficult
Today’s news about the diminishing numbers of babies being adopted in the UK does not at all surprise us. The BBC has today reported that only 60 children under one were adopted in the UK last year, of the 3,500 currently in the care system.
This marks a significant drop from the 150 adoptions of children under one completed in 2007. The drop indicates that the barriers to authorising prospective adopters and to releasing children for adoption seem to be increasing and the process taking longer.
Ann Marie Carrie of Barnado’s has said: “This is a tragedy, it’s a tragedy for the children who are languishing in the care system and frankly it’s a tragedy for those people who have come forward who want to be parents and adopt a child.”
None of this comes as much of a surprise to the many frustrated clients we hear from daily who have considered adoption but instead turned to surrogacy as a means of building their family. Again and again we hear that prospective parents have been actively discouraged from pursuing adoption or told that the process will take many years with no certain outcome.
Parents with an existing child are often told they are only eligible to adopt if there is an age gap of several years between siblings, which in practice rules out adoption entirely (depending on the parents ages) given that so few young children are available.
Again and again we hear that couples who are unable to conceive as a result of infertility or other medical problems, and same sex parents wanting to build a family, would love to offer a home to a child who needs it, but find that adoption simply is not an option for them.
Many of these couples go on to be fantastic parents to their own biological children conceived through fertility treatment or surrogacy. They could have been fantastic adoptive parents to children who desperately need their care.
Article: by Natalie Gamble Associates
This marks a significant drop from the 150 adoptions of children under one completed in 2007. The drop indicates that the barriers to authorising prospective adopters and to releasing children for adoption seem to be increasing and the process taking longer.
Ann Marie Carrie of Barnado’s has said: “This is a tragedy, it’s a tragedy for the children who are languishing in the care system and frankly it’s a tragedy for those people who have come forward who want to be parents and adopt a child.”
None of this comes as much of a surprise to the many frustrated clients we hear from daily who have considered adoption but instead turned to surrogacy as a means of building their family. Again and again we hear that prospective parents have been actively discouraged from pursuing adoption or told that the process will take many years with no certain outcome.
Parents with an existing child are often told they are only eligible to adopt if there is an age gap of several years between siblings, which in practice rules out adoption entirely (depending on the parents ages) given that so few young children are available.
Again and again we hear that couples who are unable to conceive as a result of infertility or other medical problems, and same sex parents wanting to build a family, would love to offer a home to a child who needs it, but find that adoption simply is not an option for them.
Many of these couples go on to be fantastic parents to their own biological children conceived through fertility treatment or surrogacy. They could have been fantastic adoptive parents to children who desperately need their care.
Article: by Natalie Gamble Associates
Sunday, 2 October 2011
Sperm donor who finds he has 70 biological children confesses to his fiancee
A lawyer who became a sperm donor and donated sperm to pay his way through college has learned that he has fathered an astonishing 70 children.
More than 15 of those have already attempted to contact 33-year-old Ben Seisler.
The sperm donor confessed to his fiancée as part of a new reality show, 'Sperm Donor', that aired on the Style Network on Tuesday.
Seisler donated sperm for three years while attending law school at George Mason, Virginia. He earned around $150 per donation.
He originally planned to remain anonymous but later joined an online registry called the Donor Sibling Registry that connects offspring and siblings to each other and their donors, Boston Globe reported.
During the reality show Seisler also comes face to face with two of his biological children, a boy and a girl.
The Boston lawyer said there is no 'road map' for the situation he is in now.
'It was kind of wild,' he said after meeting the children. 'On the one hand, these kids are biologically my kids. On the other hand they are not my kids. I didn't raise them. I have no control over how they are raised.'
View You Tube click, where sperm donor confesses to his fiancee You Tube.
Article: 29th September 2011 www.dailmail.co.uk
Read more about finding a known sperm donor, or donating sperm at www.prideangel.com
More than 15 of those have already attempted to contact 33-year-old Ben Seisler.
The sperm donor confessed to his fiancée as part of a new reality show, 'Sperm Donor', that aired on the Style Network on Tuesday.
Seisler donated sperm for three years while attending law school at George Mason, Virginia. He earned around $150 per donation.
He originally planned to remain anonymous but later joined an online registry called the Donor Sibling Registry that connects offspring and siblings to each other and their donors, Boston Globe reported.
During the reality show Seisler also comes face to face with two of his biological children, a boy and a girl.
The Boston lawyer said there is no 'road map' for the situation he is in now.
'It was kind of wild,' he said after meeting the children. 'On the one hand, these kids are biologically my kids. On the other hand they are not my kids. I didn't raise them. I have no control over how they are raised.'
View You Tube click, where sperm donor confesses to his fiancee You Tube.
Article: 29th September 2011 www.dailmail.co.uk
Read more about finding a known sperm donor, or donating sperm at www.prideangel.com
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Nominate your chosen person for the 2011 Pink List
Nominate your entry for the IoS 2011 Pink List
The Independent on Sunday's annual Pink List returns next month, celebrating the 101 most influential lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender men and women in Britain.
Since the list was last published in 2010, we can add to the list an England cricketer (Steven Davies), an X Factor winner (Joe McElderry) and a chart-topping singer (Jessie J). But influence is not all about hitting a boundary or appearing at Glastonbury on a gilded throne.
Of course, it takes courage to be gay in the public eye – particularly in the world of sport, for instance, or for women who aspire to thrive in a career in television. Last year, we awarded the joint number one position to the rugby player Gareth Thomas and Mary Portas, the Queen of Shops.
But there are many more people who daily improve life in this country without their work ever receiving applause. Campaigners who effect the first small changes that eventually become written into law. Volunteers who work with young people. They too deserve our garlands of praise.
This year, then, we would like to ask for your help. Do you know an unsung champion whose work promotes real progress and equality in this country? Is there someone whose name should be celebrated alongside national treasures such as Sir Ian McKellen, Alan Bennett, Sue Perkins and Jeanette Winterson? We want you to let us know.
You can send your nominations in the following ways: by email, to pinklist@independent.co.uk; or post your nomination at: www.independent.co.uk/pinklist2011; and by post: Pink List, The Independent on Sunday, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF. A panel of high-profile judges will pore over your suggestions and bring you their final 101 on 23 October.
Each year, the Pink List receives its fair share of praise and censure. And the ever-increasing number of worthy nominees proves that being gay is less and less of a defining factor. Here is proof that gay men and women can be sporting legends, or courageous soldiers, or actors, cabinet ministers, judges or dancers – anything at all.
As for the definition of influential – this time, that's up to you. Let us know who inspires you. And if that person happens to be a chart-topping singer or a sporting star – well, we're happy to consider them for the list, too.
Who would you like to see celebrated in the Pink List? Nominate your hero or heroine here. And feel free to vote for famous people, too. Nominations will close on Sunday 16th October.
Follow this link to make your nomination: www.independent.co.uk/pinklist
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender? find your parenting match with pride at www.prideangel.com
The Independent on Sunday's annual Pink List returns next month, celebrating the 101 most influential lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender men and women in Britain.
Since the list was last published in 2010, we can add to the list an England cricketer (Steven Davies), an X Factor winner (Joe McElderry) and a chart-topping singer (Jessie J). But influence is not all about hitting a boundary or appearing at Glastonbury on a gilded throne.
Of course, it takes courage to be gay in the public eye – particularly in the world of sport, for instance, or for women who aspire to thrive in a career in television. Last year, we awarded the joint number one position to the rugby player Gareth Thomas and Mary Portas, the Queen of Shops.
But there are many more people who daily improve life in this country without their work ever receiving applause. Campaigners who effect the first small changes that eventually become written into law. Volunteers who work with young people. They too deserve our garlands of praise.
This year, then, we would like to ask for your help. Do you know an unsung champion whose work promotes real progress and equality in this country? Is there someone whose name should be celebrated alongside national treasures such as Sir Ian McKellen, Alan Bennett, Sue Perkins and Jeanette Winterson? We want you to let us know.
You can send your nominations in the following ways: by email, to pinklist@independent.co.uk; or post your nomination at: www.independent.co.uk/pinklist2011; and by post: Pink List, The Independent on Sunday, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF. A panel of high-profile judges will pore over your suggestions and bring you their final 101 on 23 October.
Each year, the Pink List receives its fair share of praise and censure. And the ever-increasing number of worthy nominees proves that being gay is less and less of a defining factor. Here is proof that gay men and women can be sporting legends, or courageous soldiers, or actors, cabinet ministers, judges or dancers – anything at all.
As for the definition of influential – this time, that's up to you. Let us know who inspires you. And if that person happens to be a chart-topping singer or a sporting star – well, we're happy to consider them for the list, too.
Who would you like to see celebrated in the Pink List? Nominate your hero or heroine here. And feel free to vote for famous people, too. Nominations will close on Sunday 16th October.
Follow this link to make your nomination: www.independent.co.uk/pinklist
Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender? find your parenting match with pride at www.prideangel.com
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