Gay dads humiliated by Heathrow airport staff

PA

A gay couple travelling with three of their children are planning to lodge an official complaint with the UK Border Agency because they claim that they were subjected to "horrendous homophobia" by airport border officials.

Civil partners Tony and Barrie Drewitt-Barlow (pictured above) made history in 2000 when they travelled to the US and used donated eggs and a surrogate mother to have twins, Saffron and Aspen.

The children, now 12, became the first children in Britain to be registered with two dads and no mother after a court ruling. The twins have US passports but have been granted indefinite leave to stay in Britain.

Saffron and Aspen flew in to Heathrow from San Francisco with their dads on Sunday, along with the couple's third child, Orlando eight. The couple's two-year-old twins Dallas and Jasper, were not travelling with them.

The couple say that they encountered problems when border officials refused to believe that they were both parents.

Tony told The Mirror: "The woman asked who I was. When I told her I was their father, she asked who 'he' was, looking at Barrie.

"When I said he was my civil partner and also the children's father, she sneered and said it was 'biologically impossible' for us to be their parents.

"It was horrendous - it made my blood boil. We travel abroad a lot and this has never happened.

"We've faced homophobia before but it was like going back in time."

To make matters worse, the couple say that Aspen was vomiting after becoming travel-sick on the plane - and was denied permission to see a doctor.

Tony said: "We're adults and our younger children are too young to understand.

"But for Saffron and Aspen, at their age, it was horrible. They were really upset.

"Once a supervisor got involved we were taken to a side room and offered drinks - I think he realised who we were. Only then were we allowed through."

A UK Border Authority spokesperson told The Mirror: "Any formal complaint will be investigated fully."

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