Trent and Brad Dunn wanted to become dads.
They had a surrogate willing to help them create their family.
They were prepared to go through the demanding process required to make that happen.
But there was one requirement the married Australian couple could never satisfy.
They were two men.
Now, after a legal battle stretching over three years, Trent and Brad have become the first same-sex couple to receive approval for a surrogacy arrangement from Western Australia’s Reproductive Technology Council.
And they can finally concentrate on what they wanted in the first place.
Trying to become parents.
“The Fact That We Were Two Men”
Western Australia’s existing Surrogacy Act dates from 2008.
Under the law, a couple eligible for a parentage order was defined as two people of opposite sexes who were married or in a de facto relationship and unable to conceive a child.
Single women could also qualify under certain circumstances.
Male same-sex couples and single men could not.
For Trent and Brad, that meant their path to parenthood effectively stopped before it could begin.
Brad told WAtoday that the couple met every criterion except one: “the fact that we were two men.”
So rather than simply accepting that answer, they challenged it.
A Three-Year Fight
The Dunns argued that Western Australia’s restrictions discriminated against them because of their sex and conflicted with federal anti-discrimination protections.
In May 2026, Western Australia’s Court of Appeal agreed.
The court found that relevant provisions of the state’s Surrogacy Act were inconsistent with federal law and therefore invalid to the extent of that inconsistency.
That decision opened a door that had previously been closed to the couple.
Now the Reproductive Technology Council has approved their surrogacy arrangement.
According to WAtoday, they are the first same-sex couple to receive that approval in Western Australia.
The Law Was Already Changing — Just Not Fast Enough
There is an unusual twist to Trent and Brad’s story.
Western Australia has already decided that its old restrictions need to go.
The state parliament passed sweeping new assisted reproductive technology and surrogacy legislation in December 2025.
When it comes into effect, access will no longer depend on a person’s sex, relationship status, gender identity, sex characteristics or sexual orientation.
Same-sex couples and single men will explicitly be able to access assisted reproductive treatments including surrogacy.
But implementation is not expected until mid-2027.
For couples who have already spent years waiting to start a family, another year can feel very long indeed.
“This has been a really long journey for us and for our family,” Brad told WAtoday.
He described repeatedly being told to wait and be patient while knowing that the obstacle was not their suitability to become parents.
It was their sex.
Now They Can Focus On Becoming Dads
Trent and Brad have now begun treatment with their surrogate, her wife and a separate egg donor.
They know there are no guarantees.
Surrogacy and fertility treatment can bring plenty of challenges even after the legal barriers disappear.
But those are finally the challenges the couple want to be thinking about.
“We know plenty of challenges still lie ahead of us,” Brad said, “but we are overjoyed to be focused now on the wonderful opportunity of parenthood.”
And after fighting their own case, they are trying to make the road easier for the families who come next.
The couple have created a template document based on their arrangement that others may be able to use.
For Brad, helping another couple avoid the same experience would give meaning to what they went through.
“If it means that someone doesn’t have to experience that same pain… then this has been worth it,” he said.
Three years ago, Trent and Brad were fighting a law that told them the kind of couple they were made them ineligible to take the next step toward becoming parents.
Today, the law is changing, their case has opened a door early, and treatment has begun.
They still don’t know exactly where the journey will end.
But at last, the biggest question facing them isn’t whether two men should be allowed to become dads.
It’s whether their dream of becoming dads is about to come true.
📷 Trent and Brad Dunn on change.org
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