The "Gay Dads" - Tony and Barrie Drewitt-Barlow - are the subject of a Channel 4 documentary tomorrow night, My Weird and Wonderful Family.
The media have always been fascinated by Mr and Mr Drewitt-Barlow and their brood - coverage is usually ever so polite, but you know deep down to them it's a freak show.
They were interviewed in The Guardian on Saturday; "So it seems not everyone is comfortable with the Drewitt-Barlows, who appear larger than life in every direction. It's not just that they have kids, they have five kids; it's not just that they are rich, they are millionaires."
And they estimate they've spent £1million on creating their family.
Though Fagburn suspects a lot of peoples' real problem with the "millionaire gay couple" is not that they're gay, or even gay dads.
They're something far, far worse for Middle Englanders; nouveau riche.
The documentary comes at a rather unfortunate time for these self-made gay men.
Their local paper, Maldon Standard, reports that last week they were both banned from running companies for eight years.
"Proceedings were brought against them by the Insolvency Service after an investigation uncovered that they had made payments totalling £243,704 to H2O Haircare, which had done no work for the company, leading to creditors missing out."
Their main company, Euroderm Research, was wound up in March 2008 with debts of £542,540.
You can read the statement from the Insolvency Service here.
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From Caitlin Moran's review in The Times, July 22nd.
ReplyDelete"In My Weird & Wonderful Family, we visited the Drewitt-Barlows — the family who, a decade ago, caused red-top hoo-ha and rumpus by being the first gay couple to have surrogate babies via IVF.
At the time it was seen as borderline witchcraft: two MEN? Holding BABIES? That came from a JAR? GOD CREATED ADAM AND EVE, NOT ADAM AND STEVE! EXCEPT OF COURSE HE DID CREATE ADAM AND STEVE, BECAUSE HE CREATED EVERYTHING — IF WHAT YOU BELIEVE IS THAT GOD CREATED EVERYTHING. OH MAN, RELIGION CONFUSES ME.
The previous attitude was best illustrated by a clip from 1999, when the Drewitt-Barlows appeared, with their weeks-old baby twins, on GMTV.
“What about those people who say, ‘You are not meant to have children. It’s against nature’?” Eammon Holmes in 1999 — black-haired and trimmer — asked. He presumably believed he was simply voicing the thoughts of the nation. “What are the kids going to say when they go to school? ‘I have two dads’?”
Ten years on, and the Drewitt-Barlows have added another three children to their family. In the meantime, we’ve had Queer as Folk, openly gay Cabinet ministers, and the repeal of Clause 28; civil partnerships, a lesbian Prime Minister in Iceland, and Captain Jack kissing the Doctor on a children’s TV show, without a single letter of complaint.
In a decade, Britain has hosted a quiet, civilised, gay revolution.
In a key moment, My Weird and Wonderful Family showed the Drewitt-Barlows appearing on GMTV again, last month, to show off their newest twins, Dallas and Jasper.
“Hey there!” Eammon Holmes said, looking greyer, wider and infinitely more relaxed. In 1999, the Drewitt-Barlows were a moral talking point. Now they are just two tired parents, discussing broken nights.
When it came again to the issue of the Drewitt-Barlows having two dads, this time, Holmes addressed it himself: “You must save a fortune on Mother’s Day!”
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