Brian Dowling: I always wanted to be a parent but because I’m gay some people can't abide it

The former Big Brother winner also opened up about how he and partner Arthur were about to give up on the dream of starting their own family when they decided to give it 'one more go'

Brian Dowling and Arthur Gourounlian 

Brian Dowling has spoken out about the homophobic abuse he has received since announcing he is expecting a child via surrogacy with partner Arthur Gourounlian.

The Irish reality TV star revealed last month that he is expecting a child later this year – with his younger sister Aoife acting as a surrogate.

But while the couple, who married in 2015, has been inundated with "amazing feedback and amazing comments,” Dowling said unfortunately they have also received some horrendous homophobic abuse.

Speaking on the Made by Mammas podcast, he said: "There are people out there that can't abide the fact that two men who chose to be gay are forcing this you know, 'raping a womb', 'renting a womb', 'forcing this woman into a situation.'

"We've had that from stuff like, 'well I hope she doesn't get cancer from the hormones', 'men shouldn't be allowed to have a baby', 'you're disgusting'."

“On the day that we chose to be gay, we give up the right to be parents… But you know, that is based on pure homophobia, that's all that is.” 

"I know people who have gone down the surrogacy route who are heterosexual and they don't get it."

"Gay men or gay women do it? Everyone has an opinion."

Brian Dowling with his sister Aoife and husband Arthur Gourounlian. Picture: Brian Dowling/Instagram

The former Big Brother winner said that he "always wanted to be a parent,” but he didn’t always think it was possible.

Recalling a moment when someone asked them to pretend to be his parent to get them on a ride at Disneyworld he said he thought "do you know what, I actually do want to be a dad.” 

“But then you know, being gay and you're going back here to you know the 90s, I didn't think it was possible to be gay and then to be able to have children, I just didn't think it was possible.”

One more go

The reality star also opened up on the podcast about how he and Arthur were "going to pull the plug" on trying to start a family. 

"When you do your embryo transfer... that may not turn into a healthy pregnancy. There are no guarantees.

"We had lost two. We had an embryo that split into twins but it wasn't viable, there was an issue with it so we lost that.

"And even for me and Arthur, I cried that day. I was so sad because to me it's not just an egg and sperm, this is an embryo. And they knew the gender.

"For me that was a loss and I know that sounds really dramatic but for me that was a loss and I was really sad that day.

"We had one embryo left and this embryo was in a freezer for months before anything happened.

“And I remember thinking, 'that's our baby' and they’re by themselves..”

Dowling said luckily they decided to give it "one more go" and they are now due a baby in September.