"Starting in 1999, the pension laws have applied to same-sex couples, and then there was the legalization of gay marriage. As a result, the number of homoparental families increases every year." (Shutterstock.com)

MONTREAL - Six years after gay marriage was legalized in Quebec, there is a marked increase in the number of same-sex couples who have decided to have children. In Quebec, some 1400 children have two dads or two moms.

According to data obtained from the Régie des rentes du Québec (RRQ), at the end of 2008 there were 1386 children living in "homoprental" families, a number that has been increasing steadily since 2001. Back then, only 201 children were living with a same-sex couple as their parents.

Of that number, nearly 80% of the 950 known homoparental families in 2008 were composed of two moms, and just under 200 were composed of two dads.

According to the governmental agency, this increase is directly ascribable to the equal rights same-sex couples have gained in the past ten or so years.

"It follows the legislation," commented the RRQ spokesperson, Herman Huot. "Starting in 1999, the pension laws have applied to same-sex couples, and then there was the legalization of gay marriage. As a result, the number of homoparental families increases every year."

The gift of life

Rosalie Dubreuil and Marie-Ève Blackburn are a same-sex couple from Verdun, and they recently became one of those homoparental families.

Last October, after 38 hours of labour, Rosalie gave birth to baby Gustave at Saint-Luc Hospital. A friend of the couple, himself a gay man, gave his sperm to allow this new life to be born. He has no legal rights on this baby, even though he is the biological father.

"We have the legal authority, but if ever this child wants to see his father and if that man is open to the idea, we won't try to stop it," explains Rosalie, who works as as a mechanic apprentice at Via Rail.

The couple favoured asking a friend over going to a sperm bank precisely because of the fact that the child might one day want to know his biological dad. Two trials were necessary before Rosalie got pregnant.

"It is a gift from our friend to our couple," according to Marie-Ève Blackburn, who also works as an expert mechanic at Canadian National Railway.

Optimism

The two women dreamed of having a child for years. They want a second child and would like to have it through the same method, but this time, Marie-Ève would get pregnant.

To her, the increase in the number of homoparental families is extremely good news.

"We have friends who are over 45 years old and for whom living their homosexual life was quite a struggle. But nowadays, I'm filled with optimism."

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