My son is graduating from high school this year, which is making me reflect back to how our family started. Since today is Donor Conception Awareness Day, I thought I’d offer a refreshed version of our experience with reciprocal IVF (my egg; partner’s womb) in hopes of offering some insight or inspiration to others pursuing similar paths.
It’s National Infertility Awareness Week here in the U.S. For some LGBTQ people, “infertility” is simply the inability to reproduce by ourselves or with a partner without medical intervention—sometimes called “social infertility.” For others, infertility is a medical diagnosis indicating that even with assistance, conception will be hard. Here are some resources to help no matter how you’re defining it.
Last week, the Michigan Court of Appeals recognized that both women in an unmarried same-sex couple, one the genetic mother and one the gestational mother, have parental rights. This is a clear victory—but the ruling also indicates what is still needed for even fuller protection of all families, no matter who’s in them or how they are formed.
A sweet new picture book about a girl who loves having her dads read stories to her (especially the one about her adoption) is uplifting and empowering.
Bethany Christian Services, the largest Protestant adoption and foster care agency in the U.S., announced yesterday that it will begin placing children with LGBTQ parents nationwide, reports the New York Times.
Did you know that in the 1970s, queer social workers were quietly placing queer youth with queer foster parents, in defiance of state laws? They were “were creating something radical: state-supported queer families in an era of intense discrimination,” asserts a fascinating new article on the subject.
A new law is now in effect in the state of New York that not only legalizes gestational surrogacy but also simplifies and strengthens the legal recognition of nonbiological parents and single parents in families formed through assisted reproduction. Easy forms? No home study? Yes, please!
A new service, founded by a queer mom and attorney, aims to provide LGBTQ parents and prospective parents with family building resources and a personally vetted directory of family lawyers.
After a lawsuit brought by LGBTQ organizations and a foster youth and alumni group, the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has agreed to delay implementing a Trump-era rule that would have allowed taxpayer-funded foster care and adoption agencies and other health and social service organizations to discriminate against LGBTQ people and others. This will allow the administration time to review the rule and potentially change or nullify it.
Not letting a little thing like insurrection stop them, the Trump administration on Thursday finalized a rule that will allow foster care and adoption agencies, along with other public health and social service organizations receiving taxpayer funds, to discriminate against LGBTQ people and others.
