His Brother's Keeper

"I've never thought of him as my brother. None of us have. But when he was born, legally he was my brother. Just as legally, he was my mother's son."

"That's no longer the case. My mum and dad's names are no longer on the birth certificate. I am the only name on the birth certificate, meaning that I am now his legal father as well as his biological father [that same certificate lists mother unknown]."

"I know that some people won't understand it and are against what we've done but as far as I see, as long as someone can provide for a child then they have every right to a child,' says Kyle. 'Apart from that one friend — whom I no longer speak to — everyone else has been really supportive."

"I did not choose to be gay. I was born that way. I was born unable to have kids. Being a dad was a high priority in my life and now I have done it." 

Kyle Casson, single, British gay man

Kyle, who will soon return to his work at a supermarket, is blissfully happy with Miles

"...Very disturbing that any mother would consider it healthy or appropriate to give birth to her son's child. What is even more worrying is that the High Court has granted the son an adoption order, partly based on the 'closeness' of the relationship between the family members involved."

Jill Kirby, social policy analyst, Britain

"[Miles] is not biologically tied to me, other than he's my grandson. I love being a parent and for Kyle to experience that. I would do this for him."

Anne-Marie Casson, 46, health-care worker

"We have seen many instances where sisters, brothers-in-law, cousins, help one another out in this fashion. It is difficult to speak of precise numbers, but U.K. law, which does not permit advertising for a surrogate or for a surrogate to offer her services, is pushing couples to look among family members for surrogacy."

"U.K. law does not allow singles, like the son [Kyle] in this case, to apply for a parental order, or birth certificate; so the young man had to apply for an adoption order instead."

Natalie Gamble, lawyer for the Casson family

Kyle Casson may have been, as he states, 'born unable to have kids', certainly in the biological, socially-conventional manner, but he has now proven he is indeed able 'to have kids', even if that proof comes by way of some morally incestuous ambiguity. Many parents do tend to dote on their children, unwilling to refuse all of their demands to achieve happiness. Usually it's an animal pet that parents reluctantly agree to provide for their offspring, knowing it will inevitably be they the chores will fall to.

Anne-Marie Casson went one better. She would, she asserts, do anything for her child, and so she proceeded to do just that. Her gay son pined to be a father, and his mother obligingly carried his child; his sperm, but an unknown donor-egg, as a surrogate, carrying the pregnancy to term. So, in fact, she is 'biologically tied' to the baby. But she and her husband Alan, felt it was the appropriate thing to do to satisfy their son's deepest desire.

And now a British family court judge has ruled this familial helpfulness to be "entirely lawful", entitling the son to adopt the baby. Legally his brother, but in the same token, given the biological gymnastics that have taken place, his son, thanks to his mother's intervention. "I cried and cried. I could not believe it", said son Kyle, when his son Miles was born with his mother as the carrier of the pregnancy. 

The baby is now an infant of eight months, evidently very well developed, and living with his father in a two-bedroom apartment. A report on the unusual issue states that the child: "Clearly has formulated a secure attachment to the father. The father understands that the child will need to know about how he was conceived and feels that he will utilize the security of the family structure to support his son in understanding that he is a very much wanted child."

Convention and biology propped on their heads, legs kicking furiously in a futile attempt to right themselves.

Odd that it could somehow be arranged for a donor egg to complement the familial sperm, but a surrogate beyond mommie couldn't be found. The child will certainly wonder why there is no mother active in his life, beyond the mothering he will receive from his father. And, of course, his grandmother/mother. That child's lesson in biology will be an interesting, if somewhat puzzling one.

 

Puzzling as well is why, after eight months, the Casson family chose to make their groundbreaking assault on natural convention public...? Outwitting nature by natural selection.