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Daily Mirror
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Hana Carter

Brian Dowling hit with vile homophobic abuse after announcing he's going to be a dad

Brian Dowling was hit with vile homophobic comments after he revealed that he and his husband are expecting a baby together.

The Irish TV host, who shot to fame on Big Brother shared the happy news that he and Arthur Gourounlain earlier this month, and while they've been met with congratulations, they've also suffered abuse.

Brian's sister Aoife offered to be their surrogate after first suggesting the idea in 2020.

Speaking to Heart Radio's Zoe Hardman and Georgia Dayton on their parenting podcast Made By Mammas, Brian said: "As much as we’re getting amazing feedback and amazing comments, there are people out there that can't abide the fact that two men who chose to be gay are forcing this you know, 'raping a womb', 'renting a womb', 'forcing this woman into a situation'.

He continued: "We've had that from stuff like, 'well I hope she doesn't get cancer from the hormones', 'you shouldn't be allowed to have a baby', 'you're disgusting'."

“On the day when that we chose to be gay, like, how odd is that, we give up the right to be parents… But you know, that is based on pure homophobia, that's all that is.”

Brian, who married dancer and choreographer Arthur in 2015, said that he "aways wanted to be a parent".

"I always wanted to be a parent, I remember I brought my two younger sisters somewhere to Paris, Disney, I was working at Ryanair at the time, I think I would have been no more than 20 or 21 and they were super young.

The former Big Brother winner continued: "And remember telling someone that I was their parent to get them on a ride.”

Brian said that he has wanted to be a parent for a long time (bprdowling /Instagram)

“I kind of thought actually do you know what, I actually do want to be a dad but then you know, being gay and you're going back here to you know the 90s, I didn't think it was possible to be gay and then to be able to have children, I just didn't think it was possible.”

The couple shared the news on Instagram on May 5 which started with Arthur screaming after Brian shouted: "We are f****** pregnant!"

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Brian shared the video where he broke the news that he was going to be a dad (bprdowling /Instagram)
The pair are expecting their first child after years of wanting a baby (bprdowling /Instagram)

Speaking about Aofie and her decision, he said: “She's single, she's 32, so you know, so experiencing that whole thing would be an amazing feeling.

"But then not having the responsibility. So, the way it happened it was so organic, and it was Aoife that initiated these conversations and that was very reassuring for us.”

He said that she said how she wanted to help the two husbands after Brian said that he wanted to have a child before he was 45.

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