Susanna Reid was forced to issue an immediate apology after ‘insensitively’ asking a married lesbian couple “who want’s to be mum?”
The 50-year-old newsreader made her faux pas while hosting Good Morning Britain on Tuesday where she interviewed couple Megan and Whitney Bacon-Evans – who have been married for 13 years.
The couple had been invited on to the morning news show to discuss their approach to parenting and the fact they are planning to sue the NHS for discrimination after claiming same-sex couples face more hurdles while trying to start a family through the health service.
Addressing the couple, Susanna asked 34-year-old Megan and 33-year-old Whitney about their family plans when she made a cringe inducing error.
Speaking to the pair, Susanna asked: “What are your dreams, what are your hopes? Who wants to be mum? How many children would you like to have?”
Looking stunned, Megan then replied: “Well we both want to be mum…”
Immediately apologising, Susanna responded: “Sorry. Of course you both want to be mum as in, of course you'll both be mum... I apologise for that insensitivity.”
She then rephrased her question, asking: “Who wants to carry the baby?”
Whitney then said: “Megan’s going to go first, hopefully. She is a year older, so it just made sense.”
The social media influencers have already explained to followers that they plan to take legal action to make having a child easier and cheaper for same-sex couples.
The ladies argue that single mothers and same-sex couples are required to go through 12 rounds of self-funded fertility treatment before they can get support from the NHS – treatment that is believed to cost up to £50,000.
Announcing plans to take on the system via Instagram on Monday, the couple declared: “As you all know, we were shocked & devastated to discover the discrimination that lesbian couples, bisexual women and individuals with wombs face in starting their family.
“LGBTQ+ couples are not entitled to the same access to fertility treatment as cis heterosexual couples.
“We have therefore instructed the top UK law firm @leighday_law, with barristers Jude Bunting and Marlena Valles, to represent us to take action against our CCG’s (Clinical Commissioning Group) discriminatory policies which prevent us from having equal access to fertility treatment.”
They continued: “We’re doing this for every LGBTQ+ couple who had to give up on their hopes and dreams of creating a family.
“If found to be unlawful, this could positively impact the lives of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of LGBTQ+ people embarking on their path to parenthood now & in the future to come.
“It is time for discrimination to end and for there to be equal treatment with heterosexual couples in the healthcare system.”
