Gay couple in hiding for fear of losing their baby

Gordon Lake and husband Manuel Santos Valero have been in hiding so as not to lose their second child Carmen, the Bangkok Post reports.

Six-month-old Carmen was born in Thailand via a surrogate to the Spanish/American couple. Ten days after her birth, the couple received a message from the surrogate’s translator, saying “something to the extent of ‘I don’t agree, and I want to keep the baby’”.

It remains unclear why the surrogate has not signed over custody of Carmen; she is not the biological mother as it had been a frozen egg transfer. Though remaining anonymous in the media, she has launched a campaign against the couple, accusing them of human trafficking.

Lake and Valero believe that the reason for her change of heart was finding out they were a gay couple. The surrogate did not meet Valero when Lake came to the hospital to bring Carmen home.

The family – including firstborn Álvaro, who was born via a surrogate in India – has been moving apartments every three months. Under Thai law, the birth mother automatically has custody of a child, so Lake and Valero are constantly in fear that the surrogate will find them and take Carmen away.

“I don’t take her [Carmen] to any meetings with me anymore, and every time I have to go to a meeting myself, I take the long way home just to make sure I’m not being followed. We’re really worried,” Lake told the Thai paper.

Lake has created a Fundly page to help raise legal costs to bring Carmen home, as well as a Change.org petition.