Posted on 01/10/2004 9:04:27 AM PST by Theodore R.
Gay dads welcome new baby By Valarie Honeycutt Spears HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITER
The two Lexington gay men who made worldwide news by parenting quadruplets had a fifth child yesterday with the help of the same biological mother.
The baby, named Brandon Lane Dysarz, was born shortly after 8 a.m. at Lexington's Central Baptist Hospital by a planned Caesarean section, according to Lexington hair stylist Thomas Dysarz, the baby's biological father.
"He looks just like me," said Dysarz, who said the healthy boy weighed in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces.
The birth, like the July 26, 2002, birth of the quadruplets, is a result of in-vitro fertilization.
The biological father of the quadruplets is Dysarz' domestic partner, Michael Meehan, a Lexington attorney. As with the first four babies, Meehan and Dysarz will share parenting duties.
Just 10 months after giving birth to the quadruplets, the mother, Brooke Verity of Nicholasville, became pregnant with Brandon through in-vitro fertilization.
And there's likely to be more children on the horizon for the men. Dysarz said within two or three years, he expects that Verity's eggs will be implanted into a second surrogate mother so that Dysarz can have more than one biological child.
Verity, 25, was resting yesterday at the hospital and declined to be interviewed, according to Dysarz. But in an interview last spring, she said she agreed to have another child for the couple because they wanted more children, and "I wanted all the babies to be related."
Verity, who has three children of her own, initially agreed to conceive a child with Meehan because she thought he and Dysarz would be good parents, she said.
Yesterday, Dysarz said Verity has put on hold plans to terminate her parental rights to the quadruplets and to the new baby because of the difficulty she faced last spring in Jessamine Circuit Court.
An attorney appointed by the court to represent the quadruplets said in a report that the children would be better off if Verity remained their legal mother.
Specifically, the report said the babies need a mother and a father. It disagreed with Verity's decision that the quadruplets' biological father, Meehan, and his partner, Dysarz, would be the quadruplets' parents. Verity withdrew her request to terminate her parental rights in Jessamine County before a judge could rule. She has not tried again to terminate rights, Dysarz said.
The family struggled with another controversy in November 2002, when the anti-gay Kansas minister Fred Phelps traveled to Lexington to protest the quadruplets' baptism at the Cathedral of Christ the King.
In response to Phelps' protest, Central Kentucky residents rallied around the men and launched a counterdemonstration, Rally for a Hate-Free Lexington.
In previous interviews, Verity said she visits with the quadruplets about once a month.
Meanwhile, Dysarz said he plans to hire an au pair to help care for the growing family.
ABC-TV has been following Meehan and Dysarz' situation since they announced the quadruplets' impending births.
Diane Sawyer has interviewed Meehan, Dysarz and Verity and a segment is scheduled to air within the next few months, ABC officials said yesterday.
Dysarz said he didn't anticipate that the household would see dramatic changes when Brandon comes home, probably early next week.
"One baby should be very easy," he said.
| Rank | Location | Receipts | Donors/Avg | Freepers/Avg | Monthlies | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | Oregon | 325.00 |
10 |
32.50 |
218 |
1.49 |
85.00 |
5 |
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