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 $12 for bootees, $5 for bib, $30,000 for a baby
TREVOR ELWELL and Peter West know they are in for an anguished wait, pacing the floor outside a Mumbai maternity ward as they listen to the cries of the mother of their children. They will not be allowed to attend the birth or meet any of their children's family, but minutes after their newborns take their first breaths, they will be handed to the men - to be whisked away to a life in suburban Melbourne.
Commercial surrogacy has been legal in India since 2002, but has been attracting more Australians since the falling exchange rate pushed the cost of buying a baby from the US to more than $300,000 last year. A baby carried by an Indian surrogate can be bought for as little as $30,000, plus an extra $10,000 if the couple want to use a Caucasian egg donor, usually flown in from South Africa. "We've thought long and hard about this and have put everything in place to make sure we can give these children everything they need - including plenty of girlfriends who are cat-fighting over who will be godmother," Mr Elwell said.
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Justice at last for gay war widower
After a decade of fighting to have the law recognise his and Larry Cains's love as equal, Edward Young will soon become the country's first recognised gay war widower. Laws passed in November mean that partners in gay relationships with serving and retired soldiers will, for the first time, be allowed to claim pensions - opening the door for the so-called "forgotten people" of our military heritage and allowing for more people to make claims that must be paid out.
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 No Vaccine for At-Risk Gay Boys
A study has linked oral sex to HPV-positive throat cancer, and schoolboys are being excluded from the vaccination program. Health experts have warned that gay men are at risk of throat and anal cancers linked to a common STI because school-age boys are not included in the national vaccination program.
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