Fit Pregnancy magazine has published its ranking of the best U. S. cities in which to have a baby. (Thanks to Blogging Baby for the sighting.) They looked at the quality of doctors, doulas, midwives, hospitals, breastfeeding success rates, birth and health risk, stroller-friendly trails and parks, affordability, and more. The top cities were Portland (OR), Boston, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Denver. Most of these are also easily recognized as pretty LGBT-friendly places, as are most major metro areas. Still, Colorado, Oregon, and Minnesota law purports to ban recognition of same-sex marriage, and only in some jurisdictions within those states can a person adopt his or her same-sex partner’s adopted child.
This got me thinking. General-population lists like “Best Cities to Have a Baby” don’t take into account the specific needs of LGBT families. Conversely, “LGBT-Friendly Places” lists (like the otherwise useful 50 Fabulous Gay-friendly Places to Live) don’t look in detail at the needs of LGBT families: schools, stroller paths, midwives, etc.) Wouldn’t it be useful, then, to have a list of “Best Places to Start an LGBT Family”? (One might even envision sub-lists for male- and female-headed families. Lesbians might place more importance on access to OB/GYNs and midwives, for example.)
While all such lists necessarily reflect the limitations and research biases of their creators, they can still serve as useful guides. Let’s hope that one of the fine publications and/or organizations serving our community might consider developing a study that combines the best of all worlds. (If there’s already one out there that I don’t know of, please let me know.)