19 September 2021: Marriage and MAP (Medically Assisted Procreation) for all - our position

On 26 September 2021 Switzerland will vote on the subject of Marriage for All. This bill, opposed by a referendum, would give LGBT+ couples the possibility to have access to medically assisted procreation (MAP), in particular, to sperm donation [cf Federal Council website].

This article, written by Tanya, describes the position of the site's co-founders on this issue, which is:

• We support marriage for all.
• We support MAP and gamete donation for both heterosexual and LGBT couples.

Particularly virulent campaigns have attacked MAP among LGBT couples, using the imagined distress of "fatherless" children as a main argument. Taking the vulgarity even further, one poster compares MAP to necrophilia, suggesting that it is about making "children with a dead person" [cf. 20 Minutes article (only in French)], based on the unlikely idea that sperm from a deceased person could be used in MAP.

I do not appreciate, as a donor conceived person, being used as a tool to advocate intolerance. Especially as the arguments used by the detractors of Marriage for All are unrealistic, as well as being downright insulting to us.

Swiss LGBT couples have been having children for decades. The difference that this law will make is that it will better protect the child: the child will not be conceived by "artisanal" means and in legal limbo. Thanks to this law, both parents (those who raise the child) will be recognised. And according to the 2001 law on the lifting of donor anonymity, the child will be able to have information about his or her origin once he or she has reached the age of majority.

I refuse to believe that the gender or orientation of the parents has a negative effect on the mental health of the child. An atypical but loving family will always be better for a child's well-being than a traditional family if it is distant or abusive. The most important thing is that a child is wanted, that his or her parents take care of his or her needs so that he or she can flourish, and also that he or she is not kept in the dark.

Indeed, it is important for any MAP that the parents are made aware of the issues surrounding it: the child needs to know the truth about his conception, and will find it easier to construct his identity knowing that he has two parents (whatever their gender), but also a donor, whose genetic material he carries within him, an inheritance that must be given importance.

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We sincerely hope that the YES side will win on 26 September, and also that LGBT parents-to-be will use our site to make a well-considered decision when it comes to conceiving a child through sperm donation.

Tanya, Vanessa et Muriel