Female-born trans man is given £64K of public cash to find a sperm donor: Sex Education writer gets Arts Council grant to host live Netflix show to grill men on their suitability to father child

A trans man – born a woman and still with a uterus – is looking for a sperm donor to get pregnant after securing more than £64,000 in public funding.

Krishna Istha, from London, is a filmmaker and writer for the hit Netflix show Sex Education.

Istha has won taxpayer money to create a show called First Trimester, in which audience members are questioned about their lives to see if they would be suitable sperm donors.

This is not just any performance. Audience members are actually screened to become sperm donors for Istha and fellow trans male partner Logan Rea.

Battersea Arts Center branded it as ‘a rare opportunity to contribute to and witness the making of queer families’.

Istha has won taxpayer money to create a performance called First Trimester, in which audience members are questioned about their lives to see if they would be suitable sperm donors

Indian-born trans filmmaker Istha received £64,631 from the Arts Council and National Lottery after First Trimester was selected by government-approved judges.

Decisions about which organizations and projects are funded are made by the Arts Council at a distance from the government.

The show also has £30,000 in funding from Netflix and will be filmed and turned into a documentary for the US streaming giant’s YouTube channel.

The age recommendation for the London play is 18+ and only adults can participate in the interviews and offer their sperm.

The show lasts three hours without an intermission. Every 15 minutes, Istha interviews a different future father of the couple’s unborn child.

Istha said: ‘I want to have a baby with my partner, Logan, and we need your help!

‘To have that baby, we have to find a sperm donor. It got me thinking about all the different qualities I would want in our donor.

‘If you visit sperm bank websites, characteristics such as height, race, eye color and whether or not they have a PhD are mentioned, but we don’t care about those things.

‘Instead, many of the questions I had for these donors were about the qualities I think are important in people – besides genetics – that you don’t find on sperm donor websites.

‘Are you punctual? What do you think happens when we die?

Istha writes for the latest series of Netflix’s hit series Sex Education (pictured), which features new transgender characters

‘Do you want children of your own? Are you nice? And most importantly, have you seen The Princess Diaries?

“Whether you have sperm to donate or not, I’ll be having 10-minute conversations live on stage, with as many people as possible, to learn more about the kind of person I want to help conceive.”

The show’s trailer stated that viewers could “witness live, intimate on-stage interviews between Krishna and hundreds of contestants in a quest to find Krishna the perfect sperm donor.”

Lucy Marsh from the Family Education Trust told MailOnline: ‘It’s appalling that all public money is being used to create a show that is a means for this person to advertise for a sperm donor and also to promote transgender ideology .

‘The first trimester essentially reduces pregnancy and parenthood to a game show with no thought for the baby that might be born under these circumstances.

It is incomprehensible that anyone could benefit from a theater production that celebrates this method of “family creation.”

‘We firmly believe that public money should never be used to fund such a demeaning performance and that this show should not go ahead.’

Camelot, director of the National Lottery, said: ‘While we are responsible for raising revenue for charities through the sale of National Lottery products (raising an average of £30 million for them every week), we have no role in the allocation of funding. .

‘This is the specific responsibility of twelve lottery distribution organisations, each with specialist knowledge of their sector.

‘These are chosen by Parliament for their knowledge and expertise in ensuring that the money goes exactly where it is needed, so the funding model is remote from us as the operator.’

A spokesperson for Arts Council England said: ‘In this comedy performance piece, which is for adults only, Krishna Istha will explore questions ranging from funny to serious, about what it means to start a family.

‘The show is funded through our National Lottery Project Grants programme, through which we support a wide range of artistic works that appeal to the varied tastes and interests of people across the country.’

Krishna Istha, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and Battersea Arts Center did not respond to a request for comment.

Netflix declined to comment.