“I cheerfully shouted after her, perhaps a little too loudly. ‘Will she get teased because her parents are gay?’ My heart broke to see her so anxious. ‘Will she be bullied?’ But unlike many mothers on their child’s first day of school, this child was 14 years old, and she’s not ‘technically’ my child. I am not ashamed to say I got back to my car and absolutely sobbed.”
‘Have a good day, darling. Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.’ This child was 14 and not ‘technically’ my child.’: LGBTQ couple says fostering teenage daughter has been ‘WILD and magical’
‘Tell me about when you CAME OUT.’ We left the interviews feeling a sense of ‘otherness.’ ‘Why does that even matter?’: LGBT couple adopt medically-complex baby boy from NICU
“I was at lunch with friends when my phone rang. I didn’t pull it out of my coat pocket. Soon, I got this overwhelming feeling to check it. My heart literally stopped. ‘It’s the adoption agency.’ I could barely get the words out. Both my friends yelled, ‘IS IT A BABY?!’ I rushed outside. There was a 2-pound baby born 3 months early. ‘He’s not breathing.’ We were presented a long list of medical issues. ‘Are we ready? Can we even do this?!’ We decided to let fate take over.”
‘How are babies made?’ I’m the mom to a sex-positive family. My kids know the correct terms for their ‘privates parts.’: Mom raises kids in pro-sex ed household
“I was horrified recently to find out many fully-grown women in my life didn’t know all the names for their own anatomy! As ADULTS, they had never learned. My children are 5, 7, and 8. They know all about consent, menstruation, sex, pedophiles, puberty, and more. In our family, we view these conversations as a ladder to safety. I’d rather them know the facts than to ‘learn’ from the playground or internet.”
‘We will love you no matter what, even if you decide not to stick around.’ I was scared of losing her. I finally reached my breaking point.’: Gay mom suffers postpartum anxiety after struggling with infertility, ‘I desperately wanted to be understood’
“I finally reached my breaking point. My wife was getting ready to leave town for work. I had a panic attack and Brittany had to cancel her trip. It was hard for her. She didn’t know how to help me. It hurt her to see me struggling, I could see it in her eyes. I was embarrassed. I wanted someone to say, ‘You’re not alone, it happened to me too.’”
‘This little girl needed parents who’d love her no, matter what. Our opportunity was staring us in the face.’: Gay dads adopt ‘tiny, 5-pound, perfect’ baby girl after initial doubts of being ‘enough’ for her
“I think most people envision ‘the call’ as an instantaneously joyous occasion, the fulfillment of a dream. For us, it was a little more nuanced. A birthmother due in 2 weeks had chosen us, but there were potential health risks with the baby and the pregnancy. We didn’t expect a call this early. But less than 2 weeks later, we took her home at 24-hours old.”
‘They hadn’t told us which bed she was in, but we knew. Somehow, we knew. She was tiny, wrapped in an orange elephant blanket, and absolutely beautiful.’
“Every day that went by, we didn’t know if it would be our last together. Every time the phone rang my stomach was in knots. There were a few times I remember looking at each other like, ‘What the heck did we just get ourselves into?’”
‘My wife sat me down. ‘We are going to adopt.’ l couldn’t bear letting her down. I wanted to yell out, ‘That’s not fair to the child.’ I had my first panic attack.’
“Despite my ‘advanced maternal age,’ everything looked great. We naively thought getting pregnant would be easy for us. I felt stuck in the middle of two worlds.”
‘9 months after our journey began, our baby was made.’ Same sex couple’s IVF struggle to become parents
“We hope our story will inspire others to be open minded about same-sex parenting, the struggles we have been through to become parents, and the strength we have had to have to mentally endure the journey.”
‘Nooo, my plan is ruined!’ Women shocked to learn they were both planning to propose on the exact same night
“She always pictured herself ending up with a guy, and the thought of ending up with a girl was not in the plan.”
‘This little baby was created in a tiny dish. She was a perfect product of us.’: After same-sex couple’s harrowing Reciprocal IVF journey, their advice is to ‘stay strong’
“I heard crying. I was walked over to see her and it was amazing. I can’t explain how it feels to see your daughter laying there. It was overwhelming. This little girl you had once seen as an embryo. Love makes a family. Love is something every person has in common. Love matters most.
