Couple are Britain's first transgender parents as surrogate has baby
Ex-Army captain and actor become Britain’s first transgender parents after surrogate gives birth to their baby girl as couple say: ‘We couldn’t be happier’
- Jake and Hannah Graf’s baby was born on the morning of Tuesday April 14
- The transgender couple used a surrogate mother and some of Jake’s frozen
- They were told by a fertility clinic that their procedure had not been tried before
A couple became Britain’s first transgender parents this week after their miracle baby daughter was born and said they ‘couldn’t be happier nor more grateful.’
Jake Graf, 42, and his wife Hannah, 33, announced in December that they were expecting a baby and their surrogate mother gave birth on Tuesday April 14.
Before his gender-affirmation surgery at the age of 36, Jake froze some of his eggs.
The television director and actor transitioned in 2008 and had been on testosterone for six years but stopped taking it for six months so that a fertility clinic could freeze his eggs.
Jake and Hannah Graf (pictured) cuddled their miracle baby who was born on April 14 and said they ‘couldn’t be happier nor more grateful’
The couple found a surrogate mother to carry their baby through the National Fertility Society and described the experience like dating
Jake said: ‘They said they had no statistics to show how successful it was likely to be.
‘They’d never done anything like it before. But they agreed to try to harvest some eggs.’
Hannah was the highest-ranking transgender officer in the British Army before she left to begin a career in finance and to start a family.
The Sandhurst-trained officer served in Afghanistan as Captain Winterbourne as she came out as a transgender woman in 2013.
Jake and Hannah found their surrogate through the National Fertility Society.
Hannah, who was awarded an MBE in 2018, said finding a surrogate was like dating: ‘You need to have shared values and the same outlook. I think our surrogate – who is a very warm, practical person with children of her own – got the sense that we were a happy couple who love each other; that we’ll be good parents.
‘Trans people are just human being, so treat us like human beings.’
The identity of their surrogate remains protected.
Jake and Hannah married on March 2018 in a small ceremony in Chelsea Town Hall, London.
Fewer than 20 guests were invited as the couple were saving to start their family and the total cost of their miracle baby reached £45,000.
The birth of their baby girl means that Jake and Hannah have become Britain’s first transgender parents
Speaking to the Mail last year Hannah said: ‘Within a week of our first date Jake was asking if I wanted kids.
‘He wouldn’t have taken the relationship further if I’d said ‘no’. I did want children, but I never thought I’d end up having them. I thought I’d never have a boyfriend, let alone get married.’
She added: ‘I know there is hatred levelled at people like Jake and me and I want to protect our daughter from that,’ says Hannah. ‘But I am also hopeful. Younger generations are more inclusive.’
‘Our little girl will always have our support and love,’ says Jake. ‘We will always be honest with her, too, and tell her, in an age-appropriate way, about how she came into the world.
‘We just want our little girl to be happy. That’s all we wish for her.’
The couple married in a small ceremony in March 2018 in Chelsea Town Hall. They invited fewer than 20 guests to save money to start their family
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