#Men Having Babies (MHB)

[coochiequeens]

Men are holding conferences to discuss how to have a child without a legal mother. Women opposed to surrogacy need to start organizing.

A national surrogacy organization will host a conference and expo—aimed at gay couples and individuals wishing to learn about surrogacy and gay parents that have already used surrogacy strategies—at Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted St., from June 2-3.

New York City-based Men Having Babies (MHB) is organizing the event.

Yanir Dekel, MHB's Los Angeles-based Marketing & Social Media Coordinator, explained that MHB originated at New York City's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, where a group of gay men wishing to become biological parents began meeting in the mid-2000's.

"Up until then, it was expected that you would adopt—doing [in-vitro fertilization] was something that lesbians would do," said Dekel.

The group began bringing in speakers who instructed participants on ethical surrogacy strategies. Around the world, surrogacy is tied into national and local rights issues—LGBTQ+ individuals might be prohibited from attempting surrogacy, for example, while women who become surrogates might have few legal rights.

MHB "wanted to be human-rights advocates and make our own families," Dekel said, adding that the group developed "out of the needs of the community. We're a community organization. We're not a surrogacy agency. We're a non-profit organization."

The urge to have biological children is a human trait from which gay men are often not exempt, he explained.

"They want to see their their genes moving forward," Dekel added. "For me and my husband, we wanted two kids, and with the same egg donor. One of them is my biological [child] and the other is my husband's. To me, I saw it as a biological connection between my husband and myself."

Some couples and individuals are motivated to choose surrogacy by the lack of control they would have were they to pursue adoption as their main route for having children.

"You have to wait for other people to want you—it's not a proactive thing that you can make happen," said Dekel. "People are waiting two or three years, and eventually become tired of waiting. They say, 'I want to have control over the process. I'm going to do it myself.'"

MHB generally has conferences in seven or eight locations nationwide, as well as in cities such as Brussels, Berlin, Taipei and Tel Aviv.

"We're going where people have need [for information," Dekel said. "In America, we're trying to expand our work. … We're trying to serve the community across the board."

An important part of MHB's advocacy is not only instructing the community about surrogacy, but keeping gay parents in social networks with one another.

"As a gay dad myself, I want my kids to see families that look like ours, and I want to hang out with gay men whom I can talk about gay stuff with—talking about Mariah Carey, for example," Dekel explained. "I cannot talk about that with straight guys."

[davidmariner]

Men Having Babies Launches Initiative to Encourage Inclusive Employer Surrogacy Benefits

Men Having Babies (MHB) is working to increase awareness and transparency about the availability of workplace family building benefits, to encourage more employers to offer such benefits to gay couples and singles, and expand them to cover surrogacy-specific costs as well. A social media campaign, employer database and an advocacy toolkit are part of this new effort, underwritten by EMD Serono…

[mjrtaurus]

Top 5 heartbreaking Rammstein music video moments please?

Oh god.

5. The moral struggle in Rosenrot. His character is a lonely thing, unwilling or unable to confide in his companions. And when he finally finds companionship, it's through manipulation and seduction.

Yes, the girl was supposed to be underage in the mv, making it all the more controversial, but she was openly being manipulative of him. But he allows himself to give in, knowing full well how vile a thing it is, which makes him just as responsible.

He kills for her, and she has him killed in turn. And he has just enough goodness in his heart left to understand that he deserves this punishment.

4. The Shadowman attacking the elderly woman in MHB. I get this whole impression, right out the gate, that the Shadowman hates/is afraid of himself. He doesn't want to give children nightmares by feeding on their dreams but he's too afraid of what he might do to them if he gets too hungry, he doesn't want to hurt or kill anyone just for trying to protect them, but he's terrified that many, many more would die needlessly if he didn't.

He hates what he is, and when he looks this woman in the eye, he can't blame her for the fear and the hatred he sees. He kisses her cheek as he chokes the life out of her, almost like he's apologizing.

The Shadowman is a sad, sad creature.

3. The trust he has for Schneider's character in Du Hast. He greets him like a brother, completely unaware that this brother of his went into the building expecting to be ambushed and had fully intended to kill him and the others.

I've heard a lot about people saying Du Hast is about a marriage turning sour, but I don't agree. I feel like it's about betrayal. About how you can grow so enraged with someone, yet still have this tiny part of yourself that still loves them with all your heart.

2. The the sense of isolation in Ohne Dich. The hiker wants more than anything to be a part of the group, and he is, but his mind works against him constantly, always making him see these little things that aren't necessarily even there. Always reading too much into the things that are.

When he's wounded, he seems so shocked that they care for him. But then them looking after him makes him feel like so much more of a burden than he already was.

And when he grows sicker and sicker, he finally realizes that these people he's so care for him. They love him. They are family to him.

But he realizes it too late, and all he can do is let it be his only comfort to make dying easier.

1. The Birdman in Mutter. The Birdman feels so much like Frankenstein's monster that it's unreal. He's such a pitiful thing, only an infant, really. He wants his mother, but his mother never existed in the first place. He's an orphan, left in a pit to rot, begging for food like a hungry hatchling at the slightest sound.

It's like seeing a baby crying and crying and crying, and not having anyone come to soothe them. Its like watching that happen over and over and over until the baby learns that no one is going to answer, so there's no point in crying anymore.

But there is always this tiny sliver of interaction that gives him this false sense of hope. The man who brings him food.

It's like if he can make himself endearing enough, he can make this man care about him. Maybe he could make this man his mother.

But the man just looks at him like he's the most disgusting thing he's ever seen.

Bonus: Till the End.

Now I know I have expressed nothing but thirst surrounding this mv, but once you look past the shock factor of it, it's just really, really sad.

He's had everything he could ever want. More woman and men and drugs and drinks than he could ever ask for. At first it's paradise. But then it's absolute Hell.

Imagine you want to settle down. That you want to have that quiet, white picket fence life. Have a spouse, maybe a child or two to raise and love. But everyone you ever meet seems to know every little uncomfortable detail about you, whereas you don't even know their name.

In their eyes, they see either a god or a devil, but you just see another starstruck stranger, another one night stand, another dead end relationship, another pang of heartache. Just like the one before that, and the one before that, and the one before that...

[coochiequeens]

Exactly how does Men Having Babies and SEEDS plan to make renting wombs and ripping babies away from their mothers at birth more ethical?

The nonprofit Men Having Babies (MHB) is endorsing The Society for Ethics for Egg Donation and Surrogacy's (SEEDS) new Standards of Ethical Conduct for Member Agencies. The Standards include LGBTQ+ inclusive definition of infertility to be used in screening intended parents for surrogacy, curbing the over-commercialization of the field by detailing acceptable advertising practices, and enhancing the status of the United States as a place dedicated to the ethical operation of agencies that provide gestational surrogacy and egg donation services.

NEW YORK, Nov. 2, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Men Having Babies (MHB) is pleased to announce its board's formal endorsement of The Society for Ethics for Egg Donation and Surrogacy's (SEEDS) new Standards of Ethical Conduct for Member Agencies. These new standards constitute the first time that professionals involved in gestational surrogacy and egg donation in the United States have created self-binding standards, as compared to the longstanding ethical frameworks that apply to medical, legal, and mental health providers involved in surrogacy and egg donation. "We feel that the creation of the SEEDS Standards will serve to codify and even improve upon prevailing best practices that already set the US and Canada apart among other countries where surrogacy is practiced," said Ron Poole-Dayan, MHB's founder and executive director. "Some differences still exist between the positions of SEEDS and those of MHB, and the terminology we use is sometimes different. However, the new SEEDS Standards reflect many of the values we share, and they are a testament to the professionalism of those working in this field."

In addition to the board's endorsement of these Standards, Men Having Babies is proud to announce that beginning in 2024 all US based surrogacy agencies that participate in MHB events and the Gay Parenting Assistance Program will be asked to demonstrate adherence to these new SEEDS Standards. MHB hopes that this will be another step in the direction of making these Standards widespread and promoting the United States as a place dedicated to the ethical operation of agencies that provide gestational surrogacy and egg donation services.

Men Having Babies is proud to have played a unique, supporting role in the development of these groundbreaking standards. Lisa Schuster, MHB's director of programming and a former gestational surrogate, has been invited as an observer to SEEDS's Standards Committee, and provided input and observation through the lens of MHB's mission of promoting ethical surrogacy practices that minimize the risks and maximize the potential short and long-term benefits to all involved.

Not only do the Standards address professional aspects related to the business and operational conduct of member agencies, Men Having Babies is especially proud to highlight details of the Standards that, in line with MHB's Framework for Ethical Surrogacy for Intended Parents, address issues related to the rights and wellbe- ing of all parties involved.

Men Having Babies applauds SEEDS' use of the LGBTQ+ inclusive definition of infertility to be used in screening intended parents for surrogacy. This language comes from the inclusive definition of infertility, which MHB helped to draft, used by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association in their model legislation, and which has already been passed in new legislation in Illinois last year. The Standards embrace the concept of 'status' as it relates to infertility, in addition to the medical condition and disease, prohibiting agencies from providing services to those who do not "demonstrate a need for surrogacy associated with a disease, condition, or status characterized by [...] a person's inability to reproduce either as a single individual or with their partner without medical intervention". This position corresponds to MHB's Ethical Framework which advocates that surrogacy should be legally allowed as a parenting option to individuals, single or coupled, that lack the reproductive capacity to become parents without the help of a surrogate or have a medical reason for needing the help of a surrogate, but not to women who simply do not desire to become pregnant – sometimes referred to as "social surrogacy".

Also, in the spirit of MHB's Ethical Framework are SEEDS's efforts to curb the over-commercialization of the field by detailing acceptable practices relating to advertising, and prohibition of the use of inaccurate, misleading, or coercive information, or placing undue emphasis on monetary incentives and compensation to potential donors or surrogates. With respect to compensation, Men Having Babies is pleased that, given the unique and unexpected circumstances that can arise in any surrogacy journey, the Standards prohibit the bundling of the recompense for the personal sacrifice and risks associated with the surrogacy process into a "flat rate" along with reimbursements for out-of-pocket expenses and compensation associated with specific contingencies.

Men Having Babies applauds the hard work and dedication of the professionals involved in surrogacy and egg donation and, in line with our policies related to ethical surrogacy, is proud to endorse these new Standards.

About Men Having Babies  The international nonprofit Men Having Babies (MHB) is dedicated to providing current and future gay fathers with unbiased advice, support, and financial assistance. The organization's Membership Benefits Program (MBP) offers a wide range of exclusive guidance resources, including MHB's unique Peer Advice Parent Network, and access to discounts from over 160 surrogacy providers. Among the benefits of membership is the ability to apply to the Gay Parenting Assistance Program (GPAP), which annually provides hundreds of individuals or couples with over a million dollars worth of cash grants, discounts, and free services from leading service providers. MHB's annual conferences offer unbiased guidance and access to a wide range of relevant service providers. Their extensive online resources include FAQs, a video library, Ask the Expert articles, and a comprehensive surrogacy and gay parenting research library. The organization also offers a comprehensive Surrogacy Providers Directory, including ratings and reviews of agencies, clinics and law firms. MHB's Advisory Board of distinguished surrogacy professionals leads the provision of expert advice to members, and our framework for Ethical Surrogacy has received endorsements from LGBT parenting organizations worldwide.

For more information about Men Having Babies, visit menhavingbabies.org

About The Society for Ethics for Egg Donation and Surrogacy's (SEEDS) SEEDS is a nonprofit organization founded by a group of egg donation and surrogacy agencies, whose purpose is to define and promote ethical behavior by all parties involved in third party reproduction. SEEDS, which stands for the Society for Ethics in Egg Donation and Surrogacy, carries out its mission by working with ART professionals to create a unified voice and develop and issue ethical standards for the various aspects of third party reproduction. We have currently developed several standards, and many more are planned. Our goal is to reach a wide audience of agencies and ART professionals and hear their opinions and input about industry standards. Ideally we will come to industry-wide agreement on the standards.

For more information about SEEDS: https://seedsethics.org/

Media Contact

Yan Dekel, Men Having Babies, (213) 647-3298, yan@menhavingbabies.org

This is under the Family Zone chapter