Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian: 'Surrogacy affects families, not just gay people'
Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian at the launch RTÉ’s new slate of programming for the autumn/winter season. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin
TV presenter Brian Dowling and his husband Arthur Gourounlian hope to highlight the challenges of surrogacy in Ireland in a new show documenting their journey to becoming parents.
Airing on RTÉ this upcoming season, will see the pair open up about their struggles.
“We wanted a documentary to show there’s more to this,” Dowling explained at the launch of RTÉ's new season schedule.
"I think people think that we don’t have to abide by the same laws everyone else does because we’re on Instagram, we’re in the public eye.
Dowling’s sister Aoife is their surrogate and is due to give birth in early September with plans already in place for the big moment to be captured on camera.
“Aoife gave the go-ahead to everything; when we tape anything, if she wants to be in it or not and she said she’d definitely do the birth scene 100% once they stay up a certain end of it,” he said.
Along with showing some of the excitement, Dowling and his husband hope the honest portrayal will highlight serious issues when it comes to surrogacy in Ireland.
“Surrogacy affects families," said Brian.
"It doesn’t just affect gay people, it also affects heterosexual people, and for us, only one of us obviously is the biological father.
“We’ve not disclosed that yet and we think both our names should go on the birth cert because one of us won’t have any rights to the child that we love, we want, for at least two years.
The former star said it's “ridiculous” that they would have to contemplate going to a different country to seek the kind of treatment that someone else can have because they are heterosexual.
“I just wish in this country, they regulated it more,” he said.
