As if Blued couldn’t get better, it’s now helping users to have kids.
Blued is the largest gay dating app in the world and is primiarly used in China. The app was created by former cop Geng Le who has made connections with the Chinese government to ensure the continued success of his program.
Blued has offered a variety of services and experiences to users. This includes several features outside of the dating service such as a video streaming service, news articles, video games, and more. And now, it’s also offering users the chance to become parents.
According to the Bloomberg Businessweek, it was Geng Le himself who wanted to have children. After struggling with where to become a surrogate father, as China has banned it, he decided on finding a surrogate in the U.S.A.
Le chose a surrogate in California because the state offered legal protections for “intended parents,” had great medical coverage, and offered US citizenship.
“I thought about how the child, after it was born, might feel a lot of pressure, experience prejudice, feel insecure—‘other people have mothers, I don’t have a mother,’ ” he says. “But he’d have U.S. citizenship, so I could send the kid to study overseas.”
Eventually, Geng Le came home with a son named Xiao Shu in March of 2017. Since then, he wanted to give other gay men the option of becoming fathers too.
Le introduced an overseas surrogacy service for gay men called Bluedbaby.
The creation of Bluedbaby seems to have come at the right time, as there appears to be a rise in gay and bisexual men looking to have children in Asia. According to Reuters, World famous boot camp Men Having Babies recently held an convention to give men in Taiwan advice and tips on how to go about the process.
The service is set to support gay men with making connections overseas and advice on the extensive and expensive process. Bluedbaby will help users to choose an egg donor, find a surrogate, sign contracts, translate American culture, organize logistics like booking hotel stays, offering rideshare services, and more.
Of course, all of this support won’t come cheap. Right now, it looks like Bluedbaby will run users up to thousands of dollars. And that doesn’t include paying fertility clinics, egg donations, and surrogacy agencies.
Ironically, Geng Le has been separated from his son while he works to build up Bluedbaby. Xiao Shu has been living in Geng’s hometown of Quinhuangdao with Geng’s partner and parents. He says the air is better there than in Beijing, and he wants the baby to grow up around family. As a bonus, the baby helped to mend Geng’s relationship with his parents who were shocked when the former cop quit his job and came out as gay.
Despite being away from his son, Geng Le is determined to develop a service that will help gay men become parents in China. This is despite China still being ambiguous in its treatment of LGBTQ people. The government says it has a “live and let live” policy with LGBTQ people, but then regularly censors LGBTQ entertainment content and raids LGBTQ community events.
There is concern that the rise in surrogate children by gay men will cause a negative reaction out of China’s government. In addition, the legal protections of these children could become a grey zone in the eyes of those in political power.
It seems that for Geng Le and Blued, bettering the lives of gay men is of the upmost importance. But, it will be an uphill battle to ensure this newest service runs as smoothly as possible.
