London - Two gay men who have become legal parents of surrogate twins born in California now face a battle to win British passports for their son and daughter.
Barrie Drewitt, 30, and Tony Barlow, 35, were present on Thursday evening when the twins were born to a surrogate mother in a California hospital, the Mail on Sunday reported.
They acknowledged they still had a legal fight ahead of them, but told the newspaper their biggest battle had already been won.
"There has been so much prejudice and criticism about what we have done, but none of that matters now," Drewitt told the Mail on Sunday.
"We have a family and that is enough for us," he said.
The couple's American surrogate mother, Rosalind Bellamy, 32, gave birth to a boy, Aspen Drewitt-Barlow and his twin sister Saffron. Bellamy had been implanted with eggs fertilised in a laboratory by sperm from one of the men.
American courts have already ruled the millionaire businessmen could become "parent one" and "parent two" on the children's birth certificates.
But lawyers have told the Essex couple that as unmarried fathers they have no right to pass on their British nationality to their son and daughter.
"All the stuff to sort out about birth certificates and citizenship is not even in my head," said Barlow.
"We will deal with that as we have with everything else."
The men, together for 11 years, turned to the United States and spent £200 000 (R2-million) on the surrogacy after their efforts to adopt a child in their native England were rejected. - Reuters