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Lesbian couple Dawn Airey and Jacquie Lawrence have announced that they are expecting their first baby.

The couple, who share a mansion flat in Chiswick and a home in Oxfordshire, are said to be “over the moon” at their imminent arrival of their daughter stating “She will have to be a strong character. A product of the 21st century.”

Dawn Airey, the highest-paid woman in British television and tipped to be the first female Director General of the BBC, has been in a relationship with her film-maker and gay rights activist partner Jacquie for four years.

Jacquie conceived their daughter after undergoing fertility treatment with sperm donated by a close male friend who himself is in a long term gay relationship.
Ms Airey, nicknamed "Scary Airey" by colleagues, left her magazine publisher partner Martin Pearch after a nineteen year relationship and came out into Chiswick’s “pink” community. She was the former head of Channel Five before being poached by BSkyB to become managing director of Sky Networks. Ms Lawrence was formerly commissioning editor for documentaries at Sky One and pioneered gay and lesbian TV shows, including the gay chat show Queer Street and Lesbians Behaving Badly.

There’s no baby news though from another local lesbian couple, Clare Balding and Alice Arnold, who tied the knot recently at Chiswick House.

November 16, 2006