Starter Resources for LGBTQ People Considering Adoption
November is National Adoption Month, so here’s a revised list of resources for LGBTQ people who are just starting to consider or plan for adoption.
Starting
Spain Extends Free Fertility Treatment to LBT People and Single Women
Spain’s health minister has extended the country’s free fertility treatments to single women, lesbian and bisexual women, and transgender people who can become pregnant.
Lesbian Sues HHS for Funding Anti-LGBTQ Discrimination in Foster Care
A lesbian who wants to become a foster parent for a child in a taxpayer-funded program for unaccompanied refugee children was unable to do so because the government is working through an agency that discriminates against LGBTQ people. Now she’s suing.
HBO’s “Nuclear Family”: A Landmark Lesbian Parentage Case and a Daughter’s Search for Understanding
It is many a queer parent’s nightmare: your child’s sperm donor sues for paternity. When it happened to Robin Young and Sandy Russo in 1991, it precipitated a landmark four-year court battle that indelibly marked 9-year-old Ry Russo-Young and her 11-year-old sister Cade. Yet Ry, now an award-winning filmmaker, had never really been able to process her feelings about what happened. Her attempt to do so, and to understand the other side of the story, led her to create Nuclear Family, a three-part documentary that premieres this Sunday on HBO.
Aetna Admits It Wrongly Denied Fertility Coverage to Queer Mom
After a lawsuit by a queer mom, insurance giant Aetna has said it improperly denied her fertility coverage and will review similar cases. Whether this means a larger change towards equal treatment of LGBTQ people under their policies remains an open question.
How You Can Help Fight the Texas Abortion Law — and Why It’s a Queer Issue
The Texas abortion ban that was just upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court is a hugely frightening development for anyone who can get pregnant and for anyone who cares about reproductive rights, including not only abortion access but also assisted reproduction. That’s enough to make it a queer issue—but it has even more possible ramifications for other civil and human rights issues, including LGBTQ rights.
What the Buttigiegs’ Parenthood Means for All of Us
Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and his husband Chasten have become parents. This puts them among the highest-visibility LGBTQ parents in the country, and that visibility has the potential to help further the acceptance of LGBTQ parents as a whole. They cannot, however, do this alone.
Watch: It Takes “Love, Lawyers & The Government” to Make a Baby
A humorous but pointed new video from Family Equality shows two dads answering their child’s question of “Where do babies come from?” by discussing lawyers, home studies, and bias against queer families. It reminds us that the path to parenthood for LGBTQ people is still full of obstacles and inequalities. Watch it here, just in time for Parents’ Day this Sunday, July 25.
France Extends Assisted Reproduction to Single Women and Two-Woman Couples
The French Parliament has approved a bill that will allow single women and two-woman couples to use assisted reproductive technologies.
“How We Do Family” Is a Memoir and Parenting Guide for All
Part memoir and part parenting guide, the new book by diversity educator and speaker Trystan Reese manages to tell a story that is specific to his experience as a gay, transgender dad, while offering universal advice on parenting, relationships, and more.