California Enacts Landmark Legislation Giving Same Sex Parents Via Surrogacy Equal Parenting Rights

ENCINO, Calif., Oct. 17. 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Legislative history was made on September 23, 2012, when California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 1217, a ground-breaking bill that amends the Uniform Parentage Act and affords same sex couples conceiving children through surrogacy the same parental rights and protections as other parents in the state. California has taken the unprecedented step of changing the legal definition of "intended parent" to be "an individual, married or unmarried," making it legislatively illegal to discriminate against same sex parents both before and after their children are born from surrogacy arrangements.

California Assemblyman Felipe Fuentes sponsored the bill, which took two years to pass. This effort was spearheaded by attorney Bill Handel and Karen Synesiou, co-owners of the Center for Surrogate Parenting (CSP). The agency has been a pioneer in helping same sex couples create families and was the first in the world to help a gay couple become parents via surrogacy 28 years ago.  They collaborated with reproductive attorneys Andy Vorzimer and Dean Masserman to draft the law with Assemblyman Fuentes. CSP and the law firm of Vorzimer Masserman have earned a worldwide reputation for their work with gay couples in surrogacy arrangements, amongst them Elton John and David Furnish, proud parents of Zackary born in 2010.

In addition to founding CSP, Bill Handel is the most listened to radio talk show host at Los Angeles's KFIAM 640, and has been committed to LGBT rights issues for his entire 27-year broadcasting career. 

About the Center for Surrogate Parenting
The Center for Surrogate Parenting (CSP) was established in 1980 and has over 1700 babies born to the program, making it the most experienced surrogacy agency in the world. Learn more at www.creatingfamilies.com.

SOURCE Center for Surrogate Parenting