What takes eight days of performances including 121 hours of 10 minutes interviews in front of a live audience? The quest for the perfect sperm, apparently.
After meeting at a queer Melbourne Festival and continuing to date long distance during the pandemic, Logan and Krishna decided early on in their relationship that they wanted to raise a family, but as two trans men that came with complications.
Given the miseducation and extreme vitriol currently targeted towards trans people every day, the couple felt finding a child through an adoption agency is unlikely. Even if they turned to sperm donation sites, there was a glaring issue: what if in 18 years they discover their donor is a transphobe?
Performer Krishna came up with a solution, much to the dismay of his less theatrical boyfriend Logan. Starting in , they will travel around the world interviewing potential candidates for a new stage show called The First Testament until they find the perfect match.
If that sounds a little bit extra that’s because it absolutely is, but watching the process unfold in the new Netflix short film Sperm Donors Wanted, it also makes perfect sense.
Queer people often have less financial resources than straight people to turn to the medical system and why wouldn’t you want to know your donor is kind, accepting and holds the same values you want in your child?
‘We were just sitting in the living room one day and Krishna said, “I’ve got an idea.” I said, “No, that’s absolutely ridiculous,”’ Logan tells Metro.co.uk of the moment the plan was born.
‘I mean, it sounds a bit sensational when you go “oh, we’re like, talking to as many people as we can to find a sperm donor. But really, at the crux of it, it’s a conversation about queer family making and putting that in the open so I very quickly came on board because it wasn’t it’s not as sensational as it sounds.’
During the 12-minute film, Krishna, who will hopefully be carrying their baby, interviews potential doners on stage while Logan stays behind the camera and ‘heckles’.
They meet doners with a vast range of intentions. One wants to be the aunt who occasionally pops over with food, someone else simply sees their sperm as ‘a gift’ to give away while another clearly loves spreading their seed, boasting their sperm has successfully produced 71 babies with another nine on the way.
Others made surprisingly substantial sacrifices to help parents-to-be get pregnant. Throughout the process, it becomes clear just how powerful the queer community can be.
‘There were a handful of trans people who had very carefully considered before they started hormone replacement therapy what they wanted their fertility to be like, and how they could use their fertility to help others,’ says Logan.
‘I was a bit thrown by the kindness of a lot of people, and that they would inconvenience themselves like that because sperm donation is quite inconvenient.
‘Even if they’re not interested in having children, they were so interested in helping others have them.’
But Logan wasn’t sure what relationship he wants with their potential sperm doner, going through his own journey from behind the camera, initially feeling threatened by the idea of a third person ‘claiming a stake’ in their family.
‘Making the film, I was like very intimately acquainted with the people who were on stage, even if they knew it or not, because of all of the footage that we had so I just became more open to these people aren’t a threat to my relationship or my relationship with the child.
‘But in saying that, where I’ll be at in the future, I really don’t know.’
Krishna on the other hand feels less strongly to family being connected by blood. While Logan grew up as part of a traditional nuclear family, Krishna was raised by his single mum, his sister, and uncle.
With a chuckle, Krishna says: ‘It’s annoying you’re not the one carrying the child because I could get on board and not have these same fears.’
Logan has a very clear idea of the parent he wants to be though.
‘It’s about just being supportive and turning up, my parents were like that and Krishna’s parents are like that. Just taking an interest in your child for who they are and embracing that to help them thrive. I think it’s probably what an ideal parent would be.’
A lot of queer and trans people might think that the general public isn’t supportive of them
It’s been three months since they started interviewing potential doners on stage in London. As it stands, they’re still in the same position, hunting down their perfect match. Next they’re heading to New Zealand to being the show to Aukland Pride, then Copenhagen in March and later in 2024 they’ll go Down Under.
But the journey is more than just a couple’s hunt for the perfect sperm donor. There’s a lot of hope for the entire LGBTQ+ community.
‘For us the show has been years in the making,’ says Logan. ‘But the people who come on stage have 10 minutes and I feel like everybody made the most of the 10 minutes they had.
‘A lot of queer and trans people might think that the general public isn’t particularly supportive of them but what we found was that of the 121 people who came on stage, every single one was like lending their time and their generosity to us and not every single one of them was queer or trans. A lot of them were just from the broader public generally.
‘There is a take away from that – generally people are generous, kind and supportive and wanting to have the conversation.’
Sperm Donors Wanted is available to watch on Netflix’s Still Watching YouTube channel.
