Online babies

After spending months searching for sperm on the internet, an Adelaide lesbian couple is taking matters into their own hard drives.

Sally and Jenny (at this stage the women are sticking to first names only) are in the process of setting up an online introduction agency for gay men, lesbians, single women and other people hoping to get involved in making gay families.

Would-be parents and donors will be able to log on to a website and, for a fee, get connected.

The introduction service is believed to be the first official site of its sort in Australia, although a similar site www.mannotincluded.com opened in the UK last year. And long-running Sydney community site www.pinkboard.com.au includes a classified section for lesbians and gay men looking to become parents.

We are a lesbian couple and we’re just finding it really hard to find a donor, because we aren’t out on the scene that much, Sally told the Star.

We looked on the internet and the only sperm donor services are international. And expensive -“ we were looking at up to $500,000 to use them. We’re going to try and keep our service as cheap as possible.

The service will be mostly online, although less technologically savvy participants will be able to access information through the couple’s mobile phone.

And they won’t be handling any sperm, other than for their own pregnancy, Sally said.

We’ve checked with a lawyer and because we’re just putting people in contact with each other -“ not storing sperm -“ it’s all right.

The service will be for people all over Australia, they hope.

For people trying to do this [get pregnant], who are living in a rural area, it must be 10 times harder, she said.

At the moment the couple are taking calls from men to build a sperm database. They expect the website to be up and running next week. Ring 0408 845 889 to get involved.