D.C.

The American Surrogacy Center says the District of Columbia is very unfriendly toward surrogacy.

Family Pride is expanding its base of operations to Massachusetts.

The group will open a new office in Boston July 2, 2007 and its national policy work will continue in its D.C. office.

Little League sign-up was the final straw.

Cynthia Garnette and her partner have two sons - one born to Garnette, one her partner adopted at birth - but Virginia law made it impossible for them, as a same-sex couple, to both be legal parents of both kids. It occurred to Garnette one day, as she was taking her 5-year-old son to play baseball, that she could run into trouble registering him because of her tenuous legal situation.

Surrogacy can be difficult in many parts of the world. France and Germany have banned it, and the Vatican prohibits surrogate motherhood - even for straight couples - saying that reproductive technology tempts man "to go beyond the limits of a reasonable dominion over nature." While the U.S. is more progressive than some other countries, many states still prohibit surrogacy for gays and lesbians.