Before the holidays hit, have a look at some of the recent queer parenting news I haven’t covered already, spanning politics and law, family stories, media and entertainment, and more.
Politics and Law
- Western Australia updated its laws around assisted reproduction and surrogacy to make them more equitable for LGBTQ people and bring them in line with the rest of the country, reports Australia’s ABC News. The new legislation provides equal access regardless of “sex, relationship status, gender identity, sex characteristics and orientation.” It means, among other things, that couples will no longer have to demonstrate “medical infertility” to access assisted reproduction; that couples with uteruses and ovaries will be able to do reciprocal IVF; and that single men and same-sex couples can access surrogacy (which was previously limited to single women and “opposite-sex” couples). It also extends rights for donor-conceived people to know about their genetic heritage.
- The island of Jersey, an autonomous and self-governing British Crown Dependency, has changed its laws to allow both same-sex parents to be listed on their children’s birth certificates, reports the BBC. Couples who had been turned away from doing so previously may now do so free of charge. Jen Hopley, who did reciprocal IVF with her spouse Sarah, told the BBC: “We are both parents—he is [my] DNA and he’s my egg—but, because I didn’t carry him, I wasn’t a parent. Now I get to be a parent.”
- Not specific to parenting, but likely to have a positive impact on many LGBTQ families with children, the European Union’s highest court, the EU Court of Justice, has ruled that same-sex marriages enacted in one member country must be recognized in all of them, even if that country (like Poland) does not itself permit same-sex couples to marry, per CNN.
Family Stories
- Comedian Cameron Esposito and spouse Katy Nishimoto welcomed their first child at the end of November. “WE ARE OVER THE MOON,” they wrote on Instagram.
- Singer-songwriter Shane McAnally and spouse Michael Baum added a third child to their family—a baby who joins their 12-year-old twins, per People.
- Brian Rosenberg of GWK Academy writes at LGBTQ Nation about two gay couples who began their families during the AIDS Crisis of the early 1990s.
- Dad Sam McEvans, who moved from San Francisco to Bristol, England, last year with his husband and toddler, explains at Business Insider, “We moved across an ocean last year. Creating community as a young queer family has been hard work, but so worthwhile.”
- Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith, who is also a parent, stepped down after 28 years of helming the organization to lead Color Of Change, the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. You may know of her exceptional work in one of the most anti-LGBTQ states around—and might recall when her spouse Andrea brought their adorable then-infant to meet First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House in 2012, gaining a spot in the White House photostream.
Media, Books, and Entertainment
- GLAAD’s 20th Annual “Where We Are on TV” report offers a summary of current LGBTQ-inclusive shows in kids’ and family programming, and notes that “Streaming continues to put out kids and family television shows that feature central LGBTQ+ characters.”
- PEN America, along with 33 major publishers and national library and literary advocacy groups, wrote a letter to Tennessee Secretary of State Tre Hargett, opposing his directive that public libraries have 60 days to review their collections for “age-appropriateness” and alignment with the president’s executive order on gender identity. The letter asserts, “Reviewing every title requires a huge amount of resources. When an Indiana public library adopted a similar ‘age appropriate’ review process, it was estimated that the project could cost the county’s taxpayers $300,000,” and also notes, “Reviewing books for removal based on someone’s subjective opinion about their age-appropriateness threatens people’s First Amendment Rights.”
- The Queer Family Podcast, with host Jaimie Kelton, won two Signal Awards: a Silver Award in the Family & Child?Raising category along with a Listener’s Choice Award.
- The second season of animated children’s show The Bravest Knight, which stars a girl with two dads, became a Silver Winner at the 2025 Anthem Awards, for “Scripted, episodic or individual video content created to raise awareness for Education, Art & Culture.”
- A 2023 episode of Nick Jr. animated children’s show Santiago of the Seas has been pulled from the air in Malaysia because it includes a scene in which two married mermen share a kiss on the cheek, reports LGBTQ Nation. The show was partly produced in Malaysia, but the country’s laws prohibit the depiction of LGBTQ relationships in film, television, and print media.
- Musician and queer mom Brandi Carlile will be livestreaming a “Merry and Gay Holiday Special” on December 21. (There’s a $19.95 fee, but she noted on Instagram that premium members of her Bramily fan club get free access.)
Sports
- Queer moms are among the named 2026 inductees into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame, with two-time Olympian and WNBA superstar Candace Parker and Minnesota Lynx Head Coach Cheryl Reeve getting the honor.
- “This gay mom raised a hunky D1 quarterback & she’s spiking the parental football,” says the Queerty headline about Dr. Lorri Sulpizio’s recent Instagram video of her and her son. Sulpizio herself wrote, “Lesbian energy can bring on some healthy masculinity!” [If you need more convincing, I have a book or two on the topic for you.] Similarly, Outsports wrote a few weeks ago about gay dads Mo Brady and Justin Huff and “what it meant to become Little League dads after both had spent their lives mostly avoiding sports.” Their son’s baseball league has helped them “navigate a mostly straight environment and genuinely connect with other families over a shared passion for the game.” Both articles make some good points and help dispel assumptions about queer parents and parenting. Let’s just also remember to uplift LGBTQ parents who support a kid of any gender in any endeavor that appeals to the kid, whether sports, arts, music, or otherwise.
I have more sports headlines that I’m saving for a dedicated roundup shortly—stay tuned!