Undeterred by the case of fellow gay Israeli Dan Goldberg’s surrogate babies not being allowed to be taken to Israel, Gher and Omer plan to come to Mumbai again for another surrogate baby.
Yonatan Gher, 32, executive director, Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, and his partner of nine years, Omer, have a 18-month-old baby, which was delivered by a surrogate mother in Mumbai in 2008. Undeterred by the case of fellow gay Israeli Dan Goldberg’s surrogate babies not being allowed to be taken to Israel, Gher and Omer plan to come to Mumbai again for another surrogate baby.
Israeli laws state that Dan Goldberg, 42, who is currently in the city with his twins, Liron and Itai, will have to undergo a paternity test if his twins are to get Israeli citizenship. But the family court, which is supposed to authorise the test, has said that doing so is beyond its jurisdiction. So, the case is now in limbo.
However, Gher, who has known Goldberg for over 10 years, said, “This incident will not deter us or other couples from going through the process in India.”
Gher and his partner came to Mumbai in December 2008, and managed to take their baby, Evyatar, delivered by a surrogate mother, back home without any hassle. Evyatar was issued a birth certificate from Mumbai. Then a DNA test was performed on the baby and on Gher, who is the biological father. “The results were sent to the Israeli consulate, and it issued Evyatar a passport,” said Gher.
He added, “We are luckier than Goldberg. What went wrong in his case is that he met a religious judge who took advantage of the system to create barriers, as the couple in question is homosexual. Our case was exactly the same, but we were lucky to have a different judge.”
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