Jake Graf, 43, has just become Britain’s most famous transgender father and he finally reveals his mission to parenthood and how it felt becoming a father amid the coronavirus pandemic. Along with his wife Hannah, 33, the couple became UK’s first-ever transgender parents after a long difficult fight against medical bills, logistics, and bearing shame.
UK’s First Transgender Parents
‘I honestly never thought I’d be here. I look down at her every day and say, “I never thought we’d have you.”
Jake says he got so excited when he finds out it was Father’s Day, who has served as a nanny for other people’s kids for years.
Jake, a filmmaker, grew up always understanding he was different. He was vocal about being a boy from a young age and became private and reclusive as he entered youth.
Once he’d started his transition-aged 27, he understood he’d be incapable to conceive naturally but to try to keep the dream alive; he decided to freeze some fertilized eggs before he completely transitioned.
His wife Hannah, the highest-ranking transgender officer in the Army, underwent a medical transformation in 2013.
She, on the other hand, never thought she’d be able to have her own biological baby, so didn’t make adjustments for it.
The couple, who met when Jake reached Hannah through Facebook after seeing her tell her story on the TV show Lorraine, had two choices: adoption or surrogacy.
With Jake’s DNA on ice, having the baby be a hereditary equivalent to at least half the pair looked like an excellent solution, so they put all their hope on a surrogate.
After they married in 2018, Jake and Hannah appeared on breakfast TV where they spoke about their wish to have kids via surrogacy.
Soon after, they were reached by ‘surrogate’ (not revealed name). Based in Northern Ireland, the 32-year-old mother-of-two contacted the couple intending to help them with their struggle to parenthood.
Just two weeks after meeting Jake and Hannah, their surrogate convinced to carry their baby, saying that she was simply a bump-loving lady who loved the feeling of being pregnant. She had Jake’s fertilized embryos successfully inserted.
With their baby expected in April, Jake and Hannah started planning for the baby’s arrival. But with the global pandemic getting more serious, it became obvious the birth would be far away from ideal.
Jake and Hannah hurried it to Northern Ireland while they could; booking into an Airbnb to await the arrival of their daughter, and after fighting through the turmoil, at 5.30 am on 14 April, “Millie Graf” was born amidst of a pandemic.
Hannah and Jake have made a documentary about their struggle as the UK’s first transgender parents, expected to be aired next month.
‘Only 8% of people in the UK actually know someone who’s transgender, so there’s a huge majority of people who don’t know us and don’t know anyone like us,’ says the parents.
‘We truly believe people watch the film and realize that I’m just a guy who writes and acts a little, and Hannah is just an Army captain, and like anyone we just desired to become parents.’
Their surrogate is amazingly pleased with what she has done for Hannah and Jake, and they in turn feel especially blessed to have found her.
Jake and Hannah plan to be completely honest with their daughter about how she came into the world.
The couple says they decided to stay in touch with Rachel and probably take this journey again with her.
