Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian expecting first baby.

Kermit.de.frog

I'm shocked at the amount of thanks the opening post doesn't have

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119338380#Comment_119338380

Perhaps because people have strong views on surrogacy.

I'm a member of the LGBT community myself but I'm against surrogacy. In the event that it does happen, I believe it preferable to happen for a man and a woman (so the child benefits from role models from both of the biological sexes).

Just because you can do something doesn't make it the most optimum decision to make. I think depriving a child of the right to their mother and a female role model, for the sake of paying the mother to stay silent, is morally questionable.

I can't help but think that selfishness is driving both sides of the equation and this puts the child second, not first.

UID0

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119338410#Comment_119338410

I'm not against surrogacy, but I am against commercial surrogacy (especially international, for various reasons). Pretending that a child is actually the child of the commissioning parents is depriving the child of the right to know who they are. It's no better than the situation in mother ad baby homes where children were taken from their mothers to be adopted. I think that we need to learn from the past, and record on a child's birth cert the child's legal parents, their genetic parents and their gestational carrier. For cases where there only two parents involved (which is the majority of births in this country), we can reduce those to "Mother" and "Father."

I also don't think that there should be any anonymous donation allowed. It is very important for any child to be able to find out the details of their genetic families' medical history.

While surrogacy advocates keep saying that Ireland is behind Europe in legislating for surrogacy, they conveniently neglect to mention that in most of Europe surrogacy is completely illegal, that if you try to apply for e.g. Italian citizenship for a child born of a surrogate you can end up fined €1m and spending 3 years in prison, that in Greece the approval of the court is required prior to any implantation, and that it is only available to single women or heterosexual couples. There is no EU country in which commercial surrogacy is legal (in fact, article 3, 2c of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union can be interpreted as being an EU-Wide ban on commercial surrogacy.) We shouldn't be legislating to infringe on the rights of women in non-EU countries that are considered non-violable inside the EU.

Pussyhands

So whose spunk is it or did they both squirt into a tub and they swished it all around?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119336436#Comment_119336436

I see what you did there ;)

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119336493#Comment_119336493

Biological sex surely? Gender is based on how your feeling at any point in time nowadays.

85603

expecting.

😐️

Richard Hillman

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2022/0826/1318928-brian-dowling-surrogacy-education-is-so-important/

Oh, look who got themselves a documentary.....

Wombatman

I'd say they have been called worse.....

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/dad-to-be-brian-dowling-was-compared-to-the-magdalene-laundries-by-trolls-41937978.html

take everything

Can't help thinking:

Sasha Baron Cohen's Bruno and his gayby. That was hilarious. This isn't at all.

StevenToast

Do RTE think making a documentary about this will encourage people to pay a licence fee?

I believe it will prove the opposite....

I would literally pay money to not watch this....

Denny61

Disgusting..Dowling and co .not a ounce of talent between them .wx have heard nothing of them for years..so suddenly friends of theirs in rte..belonging to our good friends lgbt .and what ever else. Decides we the irish people need them.in our lives to entertain them..and now with their new found glamorous life they think we should know they are expecting..give us a life..go sling yer Hook.

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119338380#Comment_119338380

I guess because when it boils down to it, most people think it's absolutely disgusting. The only people who seem to think this is ok are the media.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119524399#Comment_119524399

It's absolutely sickening that they are using this for self promotion.

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119524399#Comment_119524399

I'd hang this more on RTE than them tbh. It's so stereotypical of RTE to make this kind of doc, in these times.

Their careers like all z celebs depend on being promoted, constantly in the media. You go out of the limelight and that's it, forgotten very fast. It prolly wasn't their idea.

Richard Hillman

As I said before in the thread, I don't have too much of a problem with with Dowling and his partner are doing, as it is an arrangement between the family. Although they did go down the Buy-A-Baby route and failed.

I have great issues with what Rosanna Davison and Mark Fehlihy did after buying babies.

If RTE are going to make a documentary about this, it is their journalistic and public service duty to challenge them. I don't watch much RTE but I highly doubt that they challenged celebrity baby buyers when they were on to promote their cause. There is a concerted attempt by the media to normalise it.

xxxxxxl

Would this not just be similar to laundries back in the day. Rich buying babies ? 🤔

SuperBowserWorld

It's like a cross between the Truman Show, Borat, Father Ted, Fame, Weird Science, Zoolander, Three Men and a baby, ...

🤣

I think that surrogacy deserves a thread if it’s own. Especially discussion around its legality. Practical advice etc.

Re Brian Dowling, best of luck to them and any other parents who went down the surrogacy route.

MakersMark

Buying poor peoples children is okay, especially since its for equality.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119532617#Comment_119532617

His sister is the surrogate so hardly applicable... In fact the remaining outraged posters seem to have questionable motivations in their declarations.

MakersMark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119532724#Comment_119532724

Talking about surrogacy in general, the overwhelming majority of which involves rich white people buying poor peoples children

laoisgem

So they have a daughter, Blake Maria Rose Dowling Gourounlian born on Thursday weighing 7lbs 4oz.

walshb

What’s with these fooking pretentious names!

StevenToast

So that childs aunt gave birth to her and one of the fathers is the real father and the other is just a stepfather? I wonder will she want to know who her mother is, or will she just call her aunt "Mam"?

Will they go back looking to the Dowlings sister for a sibling?

Sure you cant leave her an only child now.......maybe they could buy one off a Ukrainian that needs accommodation here?

RTE would be all over that "modern family"....

walterking

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119566993#Comment_119566993

Where?

Blake is a regular name

Maria is an extremely popular name as is Rose

Dowling is Brian's surname

Gourounlian is Arthur's surname.

Almost boringly traditional.

But sure some homophobes will cling at straws to get a dig in

walshb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119568102#Comment_119568102

What has homophobia to do with it?

Hamachi

It’s always a happy event to see a healthy child enter the world.

I just hope they respect the baby girl’s privacy and ensure that she has a private, secure childhood away from the glare of cameras. Don’t use her as a tool for publicity.

carfinder

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119568180#Comment_119568180

Too late and that carefully posed picture makes it look like Brian was after giving birth himself.

glenfieldman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119568180#Comment_119568180

Well they are making a doc series with Virgin Media, so that won’t happen

Deeec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119568180#Comment_119568180

I agree 👍.

These two guys love media attention though. I hope they get some sense and keep the little one out of the limelight and social media.

Still stihl waters 3

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119568180#Comment_119568180

This is Ireland and they're not the royal family, give it 6 months and they'll be back to being nobodies apart from an odd mention here and there

mohawk

I hope the sister makes a full recovery both physically and emotionally after the birth.

It wasn’t until after having my own babies that I realised how common birth injuries and birth trauma are for women. She risked her future health to carry that baby. It’s easy to look at the happy couple and think isn’t surrogacy lovely, however surrogacy isn’t all rainbows and unicorns. I think it’s important that prospective parents and surrogates go into the process with their eyes wide open to potential risks to the woman carrying the baby.

Best of luck to everyone involved here. This baby like every child deserves a loving home environment, which is hopefully what she has.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119568258#Comment_119568258

This is Ireland. We're just as obsessed with C-list celebrities as anyone else. Child will be growing up in fishbowl.

If the Dads had any sense, they'd back away from the media limelight now and raise their kid in a more private environment.

AckwelFoley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119568433#Comment_119568433

Never a good thing.

Atlantic Dawn

With no real surrogacy laws in Ireland, what happens now? Does the mother put the child up for adoption and Brian and Arthur become the parents?

I feel odd about this and I wouldn't usually. I don't have strong feelings for or against surrogacy and I'm absolutely supportive of gay parents.

Maybe it's that Brian mentioned they don't know the egg donor or even seen a photo of her. That's part of the little girl's story, her genetics. Surely it would be important to have information?

I also think that sometimes the need and even desperation for a child can make it all about you. So no regard is given to how and if you can truly give a child everything they need, nurture and care for them properly. Think about the potential impact your decisions will have on the child for example sperm donor, adoption, surrogacy etc.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119569103#Comment_119569103

Either Brian or Arthur is the biological parent. They haven't disclosed which one. The egg came from a donor and Brian's sister carried the baby.

FoxForce5

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119569187#Comment_119569187

One would hope it isn't Brian's, something slightly incestuous about carrying your own kins child.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119569200#Comment_119569200

Yes I'd say Arthur is the biological dad.

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119569187#Comment_119569187

Yes I remember a similar story on Tommy Tiernan and that got a more complex because the mother was married to another man and this meant he had to give the right to be a guardian. Lack of legislation and hope it all goes away is no way to deal with it here.

https://www.rsvplive.ie/news/celebs/tommy-tiernan-viewers-floored-elaine-23933872

StevenToast

This poor child is already teed up for RTE documentary...it wont be long before they will haul the child out on Ireland AM or Xpose etc....all for publicity....

freshpopcorn

I've no issue with two members of the same sex starting a family. Ya sometime the kid might turn out a tad eccentric but that happens with any type of family. The only issue is people who raise there kids to be bullies and not accepting of others.

They are kids born into terrible backgrounds, who are unwanted, uncared for, abused you name it and I think this is a cause for concern and not two people starting a family in a different way.

I find Brian fairly tough going, I wouldn't follow him online, etc. Arthur seems fair enough from what I've seen of him.

Best of Luck to them!

NSAman

Good luck to them both.

However, they better not use this child to gain more media attention for themselves…people are fickle and this will turn against them if they do.

I’m sure this baby will be spoilt beyond belief…..

Wombatman

Baby should be loved and well looked after ......... as long as it keeps generating clicks and likes. Not a day old and already plastered all over the papers. A photo shoot, hair, make-up, lighting and edited content was all planned and organised for this. Can't really blame the lads. It's their business I guess. It's the saps that lap up this celebrity drivel I pity.

Fandymo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119565786#Comment_119565786

Poor innocent child.

shesty

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119568420#Comment_119568420

Hope the sister is ok too.

Hormones will hit.Milk will come in.She will have to recover from the birth without the hormone "hit" of holding or feeding a baby.

I hope she gets some support if needed.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119576769#Comment_119576769

How do you mean 'hormone hit' ? Is it like everything is sore and you're emotional but when you hold or feed your baby the pain and fears melt away? If so then how come lots of women speak about not experiencing a rush of love immediately? I just curious about this 🙂

AllForIt

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119568102#Comment_119568102

I agreed with you up until the last sentence.

Why do ppl feel the need to be so extreme in their judgements these days.

foxsake

i disapprove of this whole thing.

I cant elaborate more cos beasty will be along do what beasty does best