Ivri Lider, an Israeli pop star, has just performed a sell-out gig to thousands of his fans in Tel Aviv
Ivri not only sings, but he explains to his fans what each song means to him personally both when he wrote them, and what each one now means to him. He also takes selfies with his fans, walks through the crowd and gives out hugs.
But this concert in particular meant a lot for Ivri as it was his first one since returning to Israel after more than a month away.
`Ivri had been in Alabama bonding with his precious new son Albi who was born there to a surrogate mother
45 year old Ivri was forced to go to the US to have his son, as surrogacy is not currently legal practice in Israel. He has previously told Israeli Radio that a recent amendment to the Surrogacy Law in the country disallowing same sex couples from having children born to a surrogate had “created a sense of second class citizenship”. He said it was “very infuriating and insulting”.
“The idea that someone else is explaining to you that you don’t have the same rights and you don’t get to have what other people are having, but on the other hand you must give what other people are giving, is a problematic principle that opens up a pretty scary door for many other things.”
“When you start separating between those who can and cannot do it, it becomes a problem. I pay taxes like everyone else. With love and faith, I describe our beautiful country as this special and liberal place in the region and this is something I believe in. The question is what kind of country do we want to be?”
Despite protests in Israel against the ruling in 2018, same sex couples are still not allowed to use a surrogate mother in order to have children, forcing Ivri and his partner to Alabama
Despite the upheaval, Ivri is now clearly content, since this concert was full of lyrics about love and family, with little Albi being mentioned a lot. His father’s artwork hung in the background and Ivri encouraged the crowd to hug each other as he mentioned his sadness at his mother and partner being unable to attend the concert.
During one song, I was Fortunate to Love, he said, “ever since Albi was born the whole song got a different meaning. I think [the song] was written from a place of romance and suddenly I found a new type of love, an amazing type of love”.
For more surrogacy stories visit here
https://www.ivfbabble.com/2019/12/frederik-eklund-derek-kaplan-celebrate-twins-birthday-remembering-struggle-parenthood/
