Gay Couple, Surrogate Mother Subject of COM Student’s New Documentary

Rachel Segall gave her old college friend, Erik Mercer, the most selfless and generous gift possible—she carried a baby for him and his husband. Even more remarkable: the happily married mother of three teenagers was in her late 40s at the time and insisted on doing it for free.

And then she volunteered to carry a second child for the couple.

Segall’s decision to help her friends begin a family of their own is the subject of a new film by Amy Geller '16, a soon-to-be graduate in the College of Communication’s MFA in Cinema & Media Production program, and Allie Humenuk. Geller attended Bates College as an undergrad and read about Segall’s story in her alumni magazine. Segall, her husband, and Mercer are all Bates alums; Mercer’s husband, Sandro Sechi, is not.

“She did it for free, and I was blown away by this act,” says Geller, who will screen the film, The Guys Next Door, this weekend at the Maine International Film Festival. Upon reading that Segall had agreed to carry another baby for the couple, again using donor eggs, Geller immediately thought their story might make a great documentary. She contacted her cinematographer friend Humenuk, and they arranged to meet the two families.