The Netherlands’ first openly gay prime minister is going to be a dad.

Rob Jetten and his fiancé, Argentine field hockey player Nicolás Keenan, announced on Monday, October 19, that they are expecting their first child in spring 2027. The baby is being carried by a surrogate, with help from an egg donor — both Dutch, and both friends of the couple, NL Times reports.

The announcement

Keenan shared the news on Instagram in a joint post written in Dutch, Spanish and English, according to Star Observer.

“Someone very special is on the way,” Keenan wrote. “See you in 2027, little one.”

The caption thanks the people making it possible: “There are no words big enough to thank our egg donor, our surrogate mum Lisa and both their families.”

Jetten’s party, D66, followed with a statement. It says the pregnancy was made possible by a friendly couple who already have children, and that the arrangement is not commercial. In it, Lisa says that “surrogacy feels like a very special way to help make our dear friends’ dream come true,” per NL Times.

Jetten added a request that’s worth repeating: “We urgently appeal to everyone to respect the privacy of those involved.”

A few firsts

According to NL Times, Jetten will be:

  • the first postwar Dutch prime minister to have a child while in office
  • the first Dutch prime minister to have a child through a surrogate
  • and he is already the country’s first openly gay prime minister, sworn in this February

We covered his swearing-in back in April. Jetten and Keenan have been together since 2022, Star Observer reports. Keenan played for Argentina at the 2024 Paris Olympics and at the 2026 FIH Hockey World Cup in Belgium and the Netherlands — where a video of the two kissing went viral.

How surrogacy works in the Netherlands

This is where the story gets useful for every queer family-in-the-making, not just famous ones.

According to DutchReview:

  • Commercial surrogacy is not allowed. The surrogate can’t be paid to carry the child.
  • The surrogate must come from the intended parents’ own circle — family or friends.
  • At birth, the surrogate automatically becomes the legal mother. The intended parents then have to get legal parenthood through a court process after the birth, which DutchReview says “can be quite a lengthy process.”

So even for the prime minister, the first months of parenthood will run through a courtroom.

What the government wants to change

The cabinet is considering letting intended parents become the legal parents before birth, under conditions, DutchReview reports, citing NU.nl:

  • All records about the child’s ancestry must be kept.
  • Parents and the surrogate must attend information sessions about this kind of family formation.
  • The surrogate would get a three-month reflection period to object to giving up the baby. If she changes her mind, a judge decides who has parental rights.

Judges have pushed for a longer reflection period. Nothing has changed yet: the proposal still has to be debated in parliament.

Why this matters beyond one family

Queer people have always built families in creative, careful, often legally awkward ways — through friends, donors, co-parenting and second-parent adoption. What makes this moment different is who’s doing it, and how calmly the country is taking it.

It’s also a reminder that the paperwork still lags behind the families. D66 stresses there is no commercial surrogacy involved, and CP24/AFP notes that Dutch law only allows non-commercial surrogacy. The open question now is how quickly the law should recognize the parents.

For Jetten and Keenan, the next big date is spring 2027. Congratulations to them — and to Lisa, the egg donor and their families, who are doing something genuinely generous.

Sources: NL Times; Star Observer; DutchReview; LGBTQ Nation.