Actor Jason Patric struggled to keep his composure while testifying before California's Assembly Judiciary Committee on Tuesday (13Aug13) in a bid to gain custody of his son. The Speed 2 star has been locked in a battle with his ex-girlfriend Danielle Schreiber over access to their three-year-old son Gus, after donating sperm to have a baby with her in 2009. In 2012, Patric filed for joint custody after the couple's break-up, even though U.S. law only recognises him as a sperm donor who has no paternity rights. Earlier this year (13), after losing the court battle, Patric filed an appeal and now the dispute has turned into a high-profile case as lawmakers in California consider a new bill to give donor dads more rights. He told the hearing, "I have to be Gus' voice - my son - a voice that I have not heard in 25 weeks, a voice that is not allowed to mention my name in his mother's home, a voice that has sent me here to speak to you all." Patric also expressed that he was speaking out on behalf of other men in his situation. He continued, "We raised these children, we loved these children, but when these relationships fell apart we were shockingly hit with briefs that deemed us 'sperm donors': a word that was never, ever mentioned in my house, a word I can guarantee you Gus doesn't know how to pronounce. "We all tried to become parents. We went to great lengths to become parents. I had a surgery to become a parent... (but) I was unfairly deemed a donor with no recourse. "(The bill) doesn't give me my son back ... (but) it gives standing for men to constitutionally get their rights and go into court and say, 'I'm the dad,' and let a judge decide if he's not." Schreiber maintains the couple had an agreement when she got pregnant that she would raise Gus and that Patric wanted his involvement in the pregnancy kept secret. She claims he only asked for custody after they broke up.