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2 MAY 28, 2015 METROWEEKLY.COM METROWEEKLY.COM MAY 28, 2015 3 EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Randy Shulman MAY 28, 2015 ART DIRECTOR Volume 22 / Issue 4 Todd Franson NEWS & BUSINESS EDITOR John Riley ASSISTANT EDITOR NEWS 6 OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN Rhuaridh Marr by John Riley CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Doug Rule 8 DOUBLE THE CELEBRATION by John Riley SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim 10 IRELAND CHOOSES EQUALITY CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR by Rhuaridh Marr Scott G. Brooks CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 12 COMMUNITY CALENDAR Christian Gerard, Connor J. Hogan, Troy Petenbrink, Kate Wingfield WEBMASTER David Uy FEATURE 18 LEAP OF FAITH by Randy Shulman PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Julian Vankim SALES & MARKETING OUT ON THE TOWN 24 QUEERING SOUND PUBLISHER by Connor J. Hogan Randy Shulman FILM 31 TOMORROWLAND / SLOW WEST BRAND STRATEGY & MARKETING by Chris Heller Christopher Cunetto Cunetto Creative STAGE 33 ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE ARE DEAD Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 by Kate Wingfield DISTRIBUTION MANAGER PETS 35 THUNDER CATS (AND DOGS) Dennis Havrilla by Tera Proby PATRON SAINT Moses NIGHTLIFE 39 JAIL & BAIL BENEFIT FOR LGBT FALLEN HEROES FUND AT TOWN photography by Ward Morrison COVER PHOTOGRAPHY Todd Franson 54 LAST WORD METRO WEEKLY 1425 K St. NW, Suite 350 Washington, DC 20005 202-638-6830 MetroWeekly.com All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization. © 2015 Jansi LLC. 4 MAY 28, 2015 METROWEEKLY.COM METROWEEKLY.COM MAY 28, 2015 5 Now online at MetroWeekly.com No one “hearts” Huckabee for his defense of the Duggars NewsLGBT Austrailian PM refects calls for referendum on gay marriage Other People’s Children Gestational surrogacy agreements can help create families, but lawmakers need further education to dispel misconceptions by John Riley involved with a pregnancy. Working with Shady Grove Fertility Center in Rockville, Md., the Cowens T WAS A MEDICAL PROBLEM had to submit to mental screenings and and a sister’s deep concern that evaluations where they discussed various first planted the idea in Sarah issues with a therapist. Cowen’s mind of carrying a baby “They were similar questions to see Ito term for someone else. if I was clear-headed about the decision. “I had experienced very painful ovu- Was I deceitful? Was I a violent person? lations at 15,” she recalls. “And my sister Did I understand what was involved?” offered to carry my children for me. [She Sarah says. “Physically, the biggest ques- ultimately did not.] I guess she planted tions were: did I have children, were they the seed in my mind.” healthy pregnancies, and was I done hav- Sarah Cowen (not her real name) ing my own children?” eventually married and had two children Once approved for in vitro fertiliza- of her own without any complications. tion, Sarah went through the appropri- Although she was happy with her family ate medical check-ups, talked over the life in Pittsburgh, she wondered if she legal contracts about who was financially should act as someone else’s gestational responsible for which costs, and even carrier — someone who carries to term went through a “mock cycle” with hor- a baby that is not biologically related to mones designed to match her cycle with SHADY GROVE FERTILITY Embryo Development them — to allow another person to form that of an egg donor already chosen by their own family. the couple. After the eggs were implanted, helping them bring into the world their “It was something I thought I might Sarah got pregnant on the first try, result- third daughter, now a year old. The twins like to do,” the 30-year-old says. “I felt I ing in twin girls. Nine months later, the are four years old. Both families still keep wasn’t done with being pregnant, but we gay couple drove up to Pittsburgh for the in touch with one another. didn’t want any additional children.” delivery while Sarah went through labor. “Just because you finish delivering When she broached the subject with “I carried them as I was wheeled them doesn’t mean it’s a final goodbye,” her husband, he rejected the idea. “He back,” she says. “All the adults spent time Sarah says. shot me down pretty quickly,” Sarah says, hanging out in the postpartum room. The But while Sarah’s story has a happy with a laugh. But she explained to her babies were in the nursery, but they’d ending, the world of adoption, surrogacy husband her reasons for wanting to con- bring them in and we’d teach the new and gestational carriers can be extremely sider the idea and eventually he agreed parents how to burp them and change complex and complicated, often hin- to support the decision. The couple then their diapers. I got to see their parents dered by outdated laws that have failed began the process of determining wheth- meets their grandbabies. It was a really to keep up with both medical advances er Sarah would be approved as a gesta- awesome transition from me having car- and with changing societal definitions of tional carrier. ried them to them holding and caring for what constitutes a parent or a family. After signing with a placement agency, their babies.” In the District, surrogacy is permitted the Cowens created an online profile in a Because the Cowens live in a county but surrogacy agreements are prohibited. message board where prospective par- that is progressive, neither prospective A proposed Council bill that would legal- ents, surrogates and gestational carriers father had to adopt the twins. Instead, ize those agreements, both for traditional talk about their expectations. They were both were placed directly on the birth surrogacy and gestational surrogacy, has eventually drawn to a profile of a gay certificate, making them the legally rec- stalled in the Judiciary Committee. In male couple based in Washington, D.C. ognized parents, something that doesn’t Maryland, meanwhile, where legislators After exchanging messages and sharing generally occur in other states. had hoped to clarify the law with respect profiles, the couples began the process of A few years later, Sarah became a to the rights and responsibilities of pro- negotiating the legal and logistical issues gestational carrier for the same couple, spective parents and surrogates who 6 MAY 28, 2015 METROWEEKLY.COM SHADY GROVE FERTILITY METROWEEKLY.COM MAY 28, 2015 7 LGBTNews enter into a gestational carrier agree- sor of the gestational carrier bill. “We he notes, comes from issues related to ments, a bill failed to move forward in had a lot of new members for whom abortion rights and embryo rights, and the General Assembly. As a result, there this was their first time hearing about opposition to “destroying embryos,” as remains no law governing gestational the issues.” Dumais says she’ll try again many embryos are utilized in the process surrogacy in the Free State, and a gesta- next year, noting that former Attorney of in vitro fertilization. tional carrier would initially be assumed General Doug Gansler (D) had issued an Levy has talked with groups of ges- to be legally responsible for the child in opinion that is still valid and supports the tational carriers incensed by opponents question. legal framework of the bill introduced attempting to paint them as weak-willed, Opponents of Maryland’s gestational this past session. She will seek a similar helpless victims who have been exploited carrier bill sought to deliberately sow opinion from current Attorney General or forced to use their bodies for someone confusion among their fellow delegates. Brian Frosh (D). else’s benefit. The majority of gestational They blurred the line between gestation- Dumais adds that almost any bill on carriers, he says, express positive feelings al surrogacy and other forms of collab- family law would have been unlikely to about their experience, with some opting orative reproduction, such as traditional move forward this session, as many bills to repeat as a carrier. surrogacy or egg donation. They concoct- were overshadowed by legislation deal- “It’s a ridiculous notion that I was ed outlandish and unrealistic scenarios ing with issues of police accountability, exploited,” says Sarah Cowen. “I picked that portrayed the bill as a Pandora’s box particularly in light of the recent unrest this couple as much as they picked me. that would unleash nightmare legal sce- in Baltimore following the death of an Just like a pregnancy, it’s up to an indi- narios on the citizens of Maryland. African-American man in police custody. vidual woman what she should do with Still other members, mostly conserva- Dr. Michael Levy, of the Shady Grove her own fertility. I chose it. I loved it. I’m tive Republicans, balked at the idea of Fertility Center, says some of the opposi- an adventurous person, I suppose. abortion or selective reduction, which tion that the gestational surrogacy bill “It was so much more than just a preg- can happen when a gestational carrier is ran into was ideological, based on oppo- nancy,” she continues.

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