Training to be an elite athlete is tough. Parenting is tough. Being a queer person can be tough. Yet some of the athletes and coaches in the Paris Olympics are doing all three, and deserve our special respect and admiration. Here’s a little about them and their families.
Brian Rosenberg is on a very personal mission to help LGBTQ+ people build their families. When he was in his 20s and 30s, he said in an interview, “Gay men were not thinking about becoming parents because everyone who would have done it was dying, and many of us, like myself, have HIV, and so we weren’t planning for it.”
As parents, we know what it’s like to change plans on a dime: to cancel a playdate because someone caught a cold or make a last-minute clothing swap (ours or the kids’) because of a spill. We adapt and move on, still focused on the ultimate goal of what’s best for our family. It’s kind of like politics.
WNBA basketball star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner and her spouse, attorney Cherelle Griner, are parents! The couple announced the arrival of their first child today, just ahead of the WNBA All-Star Weekend.
This edition includes two (!) stories about queer moms both giving birth and gaining doctorates within ridiculously short time frames; two involving reciprocal in vitro fertilization (RIVF); legal inequalities in fertility care and parentage; the profile of a beloved bisexual children’s author; and more that I haven’t covered elsewhere.
Queer parents and prospective parents can sometimes have a hard time finding support and community. Marea Goodman, a licensed midwife and queer parent, is hoping to make that easier with PregnantTogether, a growing virtual community for queer and solo parents and parents-to-be.
Family Equality CEO Jaymes Black, who has led the national organization for LGBTQ+ families since early 2021, is moving on to become CEO at The Trevor Project, which works to end suicide among LGBTQ+ young people.
The John Lewis Every Child Deserves a Family Act (ECDFA), a federal bill that would prohibit discrimination against LGBTQ prospective parents and LGBTQ youth in foster care and adoption, has just been reintroduced in Congress for the eighth time. Might this be the time it passes?
First Lady Jill Biden told the crowd gathered for the White House Pride Month Celebration yesterday that “Kids with two moms or two dads at the playground” were among the many triumphs of the LGBTQ community. I was honored to be at the event with my own family; here’s what I saw.
I started my family more than two decades ago via in vitro fertilization (IVF), and I’ve watched with growing alarm as the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that overturned federal abortion rights two years ago has also endangered access to this common fertility technique. Jennifer Klein, director of the White House Gender Policy Council, spoke with me about the threat and the Biden administration’s response.
