The Gene Machine and the Rolling Ball

PART I
At the Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum New Orleans, formerly located in Jax Brewery, there was a photo booth called the Gene Machine. Two people could have their pictures taken, facial features measured and plotted, and a third photo--a composite of the two "parents"--would be "procreated." Virtual children could be begotten.

When we were at the museum for a fundraiser in early 2000, we had our photos taken for grins and giggles. Although it was just in fun, we were literally putting a face on our biggest project yet to come.





PART II

In November 2004, the Times-Picayune printed the article "Everyday Dads," featuring Dale and Chris Liuzza and their son Seth.

...Dale, 23, is not a mother.

Neither is Chris, 37, his partner of six years.

They are gay fathers, basking in the joy--and embracing the responsibility--of new parenthood.

The Liuzzas are part of the "gayby boom," a surge in the number of gay and lesbian couples who are choosing to become parents through adoption or reproductive technology.

Finally, we found others like ourselves. We had to meet them. They could show us the way!





PART III
After refinancing our house to pay off bills, after completing a major bathroom renovation, after streamlining our budget in order to afford the new addition, after a storm that drowned our dreams, I met Tommy Starling and Jeff Littlefield while I was at work. It came up in conversation that they too had a little one, Carrigan, and that their surrogate was wanting to carry for another gay couple.



Once again, the ball started to roll.

A few e-mails and phone calls later we learned that we weren't going to be able to work with Tommy and Jeff's surrogate. But just having verbal contact with a surrogate had given us hope and motivation. By late 2006, David Favret's full-time job became scouring surrogacy boards and their classifieds.