Three sgle, gay dads talk about their journeys. : NPR

Contents:

• ANDY COHEN SAYS BEG THE ONLY SGLE AND GAY PARENT AT HIS SON'S SCHOOL N FEEL 'SURPRISGLY LONELY'
• GAY FATHERS, GOG IT ALONE
• INTERVIEW: BEG A GAY SGLE PARENT THE UK
• GAY PARENTS TO BE
• PARENTS OF GAY CHILDREN AND THE ISSU THEY FACE
• THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS
• HOW YOU CAN BEE GAY FOSTER PARENTS OR ADOPTIVE PARENTS

ANDY COHEN SAYS BEG THE ONLY SGLE AND GAY PARENT AT HIS SON'S SCHOOL N FEEL 'SURPRISGLY LONELY'

But a new terview wh the New Yorker, the Watch What Happens Live host adms that beg both the only gay dad and sgle parent at his son's school n feel isolatg. "So far, the two schools that Ben has been , I’ve been the only sgle parent and I’m the only gay parent, " Cohen, 54, tells the magaze. "Ben se that Wyatt [Cooper's olr son] has two gay dads, and there are two gay dads down the hall om , " Cohen not.

As the tradnal ncept of fay ntu to evolve, sgle gay men havg children through surrogacy are begng to Williams and his 4-year-old son, ScherPhotographs by Sara Naomi LewkowiczOct. “I’m a sgle gay dad om surrogacy.

Surrogacy agenci across the untry report a surge of tert om sgle gay men the last few Marsh, a spokwoman for Men Havg Babi, a nonprof that helps gay men navigate the surrogacy procs, said that the crease tert om sgle men is part of a broar surge gay fai. ”Most sgle gay men pursue what is known as gtatnal surrogacy: the surrogate is implanted wh a fertilized embryo taken om a separate egg donor.

GAY FATHERS, GOG IT ALONE

“Growg up gay a homophobic town, and tough fancial tim, was hard to see how I’d have my own kids, ” he parents stng together several low-wage jobs, and he’s the first his fay to earn a bachelor’s gree. Towers stayed Oregon for three more weeks, until the tws were ready for the long flight home to New unpredictable as the medil prospect of surrogacy may be, some gay men prefer that to the possibily of facg discrimatn Williams had his son, Elan, via surrogacy four years ago.

“As a sgle, gay black man, ” he said, “I figured I’d be at the bottom of the list for most women. ”A versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn MB, Page 4 of the New York edn wh the headle: Gay, Sgle and Ready for Fatherhood.

Openly gay characters have been populatg TV shows for s and have long moved past the "very special episo" about g out or homophobic bashg. Lucy is a wrer for our UK blog and also a gay sgle parent wh three children. I knew that before I knew I was gay.

INTERVIEW: BEG A GAY SGLE PARENT THE UK

Back then, even though gay people had rights, ’s very slow to filter through to thgs as simple as paperwork. It’s ridiculo bee the law has changed but what you image would be the very simple thgs to rolve, like the paperwork, hadn’t been done bee people jt thk ‘oh we’ll get round to that, ’ but that’s que important for gay parents actually. It’s still a ltle b the se that anyone whose gay, nsirs adoptn, or o parentg a different way will always kd of have to prove themselv and we shouldn’t have to.

As you said, although gay rights have progrsed que a lot recent years, there’s still this heteronormative culture that assum a kid always has a mother and a father.

GAY PARENTS TO BE

I n image as a gay parent that’s que tratg to al wh over and over aga. Beg a gay parent, uld you tell me about some of the obstacl you’ve had to face throughout the procs of havg children?

My dghter has jt started sendary school and she lls people out for sayg ‘gay’ and for any kd of prejudice. If someone lls you ‘gay’ and they lgh at you, you have to qutn that and ask ‘is that an sult? ’ If they say y then you tell them that’s homophobic.

Even when I was at school people would e ‘gay’ as a negative adjective. Did you ever have a nversatn wh your children about you beg a gay parent? My dghter said once; ‘I’m the only kid wh divorced parents and gay parents’ and I said to her; ‘you’re not.

PARENTS OF GAY CHILDREN AND THE ISSU THEY FACE

’ Statistilly, there’s no way we uld only be the only gay parents a school full of 300 kids.

Recently someone said a homophobic slur to my child’s iend and she stood up for them.

THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS

I said to my child ‘isn’t that sad bee seems like for some people, ’s not okay to be gay.

You don’t know if you’re gog to be a good parent or a bad parent but ’s gog to be nothg to do wh the fact that you’re gay or not. We’re jt gay parents, that’s .

HOW YOU CAN BEE GAY FOSTER PARENTS OR ADOPTIVE PARENTS

While Gay Parents To Be do not work directly wh adoptn agenci, we offer prehensive rmatn about the procs and remendatns for those explorg . GaysWhKids Amy is the world's only app created specifilly to help te gay and queer men about their fay-buildg Amy also offers an array of tnal rourc, assistance wh mentor matchg (troducg hopeful fathers wh experienced dads who have traveled the same path) and nnectg parents-to-be wh vetted fay-buildg partners to gui their adoptn, foster to adopt, surrogacy and IVF Amy enrolle are also eligible for disunts om their exclive work of surrogacy and IVF fay-buildg partners! S., and that 19% of such upl and lbian/gay/bisexual dividuals are raisg children unr the age of 18.

2, 6 As same-sex parent adoptn beme legalized, creasg numbers of gay men beme fathers, rultg the “gay baby boom. ”2, 6 Sce the lbian baby boom preced the gay baby boom by nearly two s, female same-sex parent fai have been studied most extensively.