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

Contents:

• DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR
• ‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD
• SGLE GAY DADS GIVE TIPS FOR FIRST-TIME PARENTS: ‘I CREATED THE VILLAGE AROUND MYSELF’
• THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS
• ONE OF BRA'S FIRST GAY DADS TO MARRY DGHTER'S EX-BOYIEND AFTER PROPOSG ON TRIP
• MANCHTER-BORN UPLE WHO BEME BRA'S FIRST GAY DADS ANNOUNCE SPL AFTER 32 ONE IS DATG THEIR DGHTER'S EX BOYIENDSELF-MA BSMEN TONY AND BARRIE DREWT-BARLOW GREW UP ON MANCHTER UNCIL TAT BEFORE BEG LNAIRMENBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYSOPHIE HALLE-RICHARDSSENR REPORTER20:01, 17 NOV 2019UPDATED13:35, 18 NOV 2019BOOKMARKTHE UPLE BEME THE FIRST GAY MEN THE UK TO FATHER CHILDREN THROUGH SURROGACY (IMAGE: REX/SHUTTERSTOCK)SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY NEWSLETTER TO GET THE DAY'S BIGGT STORI SENT DIRECT TO YOUR BOXMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY NEWSLETTER TO GET THE DAY'S BIGGT STORI SENT DIRECT TO YOUR BOXINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!
• ‘BRA’S FIRST GAY DADS’ ARE TAMPA’S UK TABLOID SENSATN
• DGHTER OF BRA’S ‘FIRST GAY DADS’ IS HAPPY FATHER IS DATG HER EX-BOYIEND
• BRA’S ‘FIRST GAY DADS’ SPL AFTER ONE STARTS DATG DGHTER’S EX
• UK'S FIRST GAY DADS' TRIPLETS TO MAKE HISTORY WH 3 PARENTS ON BIRTH CERTIFIT
• PORTRA OF A 21ST CENTURY FAY: MEET BRA'S FIRST GAY DADS AND THEIR TWS ASPEN AND SAFON, WHO SAY THE MD-BOGGLGLY TANGLED BLOGIL WEB BEHD THEIR BIRTH IS TOTALLY NORMAL
• MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI
• THE GAY FATHER I NEVER KNEW
• UK'S FIRST GAY DADS TO MAKE HISTORY BY HAVG THREE NAM ON BIRTH CERTIFITE
• WHO ARE TONY AND BARRIE DREWT-BARLOW? UK'S FIRST GAY DADS ON 'BELOW DECK' N A LN-DOLLAR EMPIRE
• MY LNAIRE DADS AND ME! BRA'S FIRST GAY DADS, 16 YEARS ON

DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR

Clton, MarylandThey are the first both their fai to bee gay fathers, and received a warm wele to parenthood. Asbury Park, New JerseyThe most stunng takeaway om photographg gay dads is the equaly of their partnership while raisg their children.

Brooklyn, New YorkWhile makg Dads I was surprised to fd out how many gay sgle dads there are creatg their fay through adoptn or surrogacy. It was hard to fd black fai wh gay fathers livg NYC. Province, Rho IslandArt and Jim were one of the first gay upl to bee fathers through adoptn.

‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD

Tom and Mike wh their son Jack at a lacrosse practice at Horace Mann School, Bronx, New YorkThroughout the book the children of gay dads grow olr. Although the school and Jack’s iends know that Jack has two gay dads there was some tensn the air while posg for this photo the middle of a sports field wh all the other players around.

New York CySome gay dads choose not to share who the blogil father of their children is. Heynen planned to photograph for a book of photography featurg gay fathers and their children. ”Amerin culture has not been particularly starved of imag of gay fatherhood, particularly recent years.

Celebri like Anrson Cooper have helped normalize the ia of gay men raisg children, and no longer feels revelatory to see them on televisn, as did when “Morn Fay” premiered mon, Mr.

SGLE GAY DADS GIVE TIPS FOR FIRST-TIME PARENTS: ‘I CREATED THE VILLAGE AROUND MYSELF’

Heynen said, are imag of gay fathers who aren’t Instagram ready — like two men bg their dghters’ hair or tossg a football the ont yard. It’s an unrstandable impulse, which he attribut to a sire among gay parents to feel “normal” after havg their pabili as parents ntually lled to qutn.

Heynen said, but rather a celebratn of the day-to-day liv of gay Jt for the YoungCly Rose, 61, and Ryan, 12Cly Rose, who liv Manhattan, was first photographed for “Dads” three years ago after meetg Mr. Heynen at an event at the Lbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgenr Communy Center New York Cy.

Heynen “a lot of cred” for cludg a father like him — a sgle dad his 60s — sce he said there is often a lack of reprentatn of olr gay people art and media, which tends to foc on young, f men. As a Black, gay man raisg a son on his own, Mr.

THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS

Startg the 1970s, however, a few state urts upheld ctody rights for transgenr, gay, and lbian parents, though some still required that they not live wh a partner or engage “homosexual activi. Bill Jon, a gay man, 1968 beme the first sgle father to adopt a child California and one of the first natnally—although, as he told NPR  2015, he was obliquely advised by a social worker not to mentn that he was gay.

A later, New York beme the first state not to reject adoptn applints solely bee of “homosexualy.

” A gay uple California 1979 beme the first the untry to jotly adopt a child.

ONE OF BRA'S FIRST GAY DADS TO MARRY DGHTER'S EX-BOYIEND AFTER PROPOSG ON TRIP

It wasn’t until 1997, however, that New Jersey beme the first state to allow same-sex upl to adopt jotly statewi, and not until 2010 did the last state, Florida, overturn a ban on adoptn by gay men and lbians.

) The same year, a Brish gay uple had children through surrogacy California, where a urt for the first time allowed two gay dads to be on their children’s birth certifite.

Siar groups for lbian mothers and gay fathers formed other ci. In 1977, lawyers Donna Hchens and Roberta Achtenberg San Francis began the Lbian Rights Project, which helped both lbian moms and gay dads.

MANCHTER-BORN UPLE WHO BEME BRA'S FIRST GAY DADS ANNOUNCE SPL AFTER 32 ONE IS DATG THEIR DGHTER'S EX BOYIENDSELF-MA BSMEN TONY AND BARRIE DREWT-BARLOW GREW UP ON MANCHTER UNCIL TAT BEFORE BEG LNAIRMENBOOKMARKSHARENEWSBYSOPHIE HALLE-RICHARDSSENR REPORTER20:01, 17 NOV 2019UPDATED13:35, 18 NOV 2019BOOKMARKTHE UPLE BEME THE FIRST GAY MEN THE UK TO FATHER CHILDREN THROUGH SURROGACY (IMAGE: REX/SHUTTERSTOCK)SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY NEWSLETTER TO GET THE DAY'S BIGGT STORI SENT DIRECT TO YOUR BOXMORE NEWSLETTERS SUBSCRIBEINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.MORE NEWSLETTERSWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!WE HAVE MORE NEWSLETTERSSHOW ME SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE SEE OURPRIVACY NOTICE&TIM;GROUP 28 SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY NEWSLETTER TO GET THE DAY'S BIGGT STORI SENT DIRECT TO YOUR BOXINVALID EMAILSOMETHG WENT WRONG, PLEASE TRY AGA LATER.SIGN UPNO THANKS, CLOSEWE E YOUR SIGN-UP TO PROVI NTENT WAYS YOU’VE NSENTED TO AND IMPROVE OUR UNRSTANDG OF YOU. THIS MAY CLU ADVERTS OM AND THIRD PARTI BASED ON OUR KNOWLEDGE OF YOU. MORE &TIM;GROUP 28THANK YOU FOR SUBSCRIBG!

Also lnched the same era (1979) was the Gay Fathers Coaln, which ultimately beme Fay Equaly Council, the natnal anizatn for LGBTQ parents. By March 1990, lbian and gay parents had bee visible enough for Newsweek to a term, reportg that “a new generatn of gay parents has produced the first-ever ‘gayby boom. ABC’s That Certa Summer (1972), about a gay dad who out to his teen son, was the first televisn movie to pict a queer parent.

Michael Willhoe’s Daddy’s Roommate (1990) was the first children’s book wh a gay dad. Marriage equaly, they claimed, would also require that “homosexualy” be tght schools.

) This go doubly for transgenr parents, about whom much ls has been wrten, and bisexual parents, many of whom were likely misintified as gay or lbian earlier if they were same-sex relatnships, or overlooked if they were not.

‘BRA’S FIRST GAY DADS’ ARE TAMPA’S UK TABLOID SENSATN

In fact, gay sgle dads are part of a growg movement that has seen a signifint surge of tert the last few years, as noted by the New York get a more plete picture of the joys of fatherhood, Yahoo Life spoke to four sgle gay dads who prove that love is what tly mak a fay. (urty photo)When Puerto Rin TikTok star José Rolón me out at 18 years old, there were few public exampl of gay fathers.

“But after everythg is said and done, adoptn for gay men is still really difficult. ”Fzpatrick, whose father, a gay Black man, was killed senselsly by gun vlence the parkg lot of a gay bar when Fzpatrick was 18, says that fatherhood gave him unique opportuni to turn his paful past to purpose through the love of his dghter.

“I thk that gay parents make the bt parents the world, ” he says.

DGHTER OF BRA’S ‘FIRST GAY DADS’ IS HAPPY FATHER IS DATG HER EX-BOYIEND

“A lot of gay men, as they get olr, bee lonely.

BRA’S ‘FIRST GAY DADS’ SPL AFTER ONE STARTS DATG DGHTER’S EX

One night, Hilton, a sgle gay dad who's weled three children via surrogate, opened up to Evans about the joys of fatherhood and his own journey. ”“I was gog through that empts of growg olr as a gay man and not havg a signifint other and not havg the life I once lived, and not unrstandg where I was gog, ” he ntu.

“I know all the gay dads who do too. ”Hunter, a succsful divorce attorney wh his own private practice Los Angel, says he was badly bullied as a teenager for beg gay.

NPR spoke to three men, sgle gay fathers, who chose to bee dads via surrogacy, after years of g to terms wh their inti, their fai, and the technologil advanc that have ma journeys like this possible. "At that pot 1994, you didn't see many gays [on] the mp.

UK'S FIRST GAY DADS' TRIPLETS TO MAKE HISTORY WH 3 PARENTS ON BIRTH CERTIFIT

So I realized I was gay, but I was like sred, nfed. But the procs for sgle people, particularly relatively olr gay men, he says, was difficult. Black, gay and heavyset the South, he was raised by a sgle mother a fay of sgle mothers.

DUSTIN LING "Sometim the gay muny is seen as, oh, 's the funny guy who's always about fashn or always about travel, " says Dt Lg. "Fathers – gay fathers and mothers – e different and var forms, not jt that one-note inty. " Raised on the island natn of Aba to Asian parents, Lg says there weren't many exampl of gay men around.

PORTRA OF A 21ST CENTURY FAY: MEET BRA'S FIRST GAY DADS AND THEIR TWS ASPEN AND SAFON, WHO SAY THE MD-BOGGLGLY TANGLED BLOGIL WEB BEHD THEIR BIRTH IS TOTALLY NORMAL

Dpe the challeng of life as a sgle gay dad New York, Lg remas an optimist.

Multi-lnaire Barrie Drewt-Barlow, 50, is also expectg a baby dghter October wh 25-year-old Stt Hutchson, his dghter Safon's former partnerVio LoadgVio UnavailableGay dad gets engaged to dghters ex-boyiendOne of Bra's first gay dads has proposed to his dghter’s ex-boyiend while all three holidayed Croatia together. Barry and his ex-hband Tony Drewt-Barlow ma news 1999 when they beme the first gay men to father tws through a surrogacy the UK, Star Onle reports. The pair, who are known as Bra’s “first gay dads”, have sce separated after a 32-year relatnship but still live together.

MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI

Barrie and Tony beme the first gay men the UK to father children through surrogacy.

1/48CBS1971: All the FayAll the Fay ma LGBT history when troduced the first gay character primetime 1971, revealg that Archie Bunker's bar buddy Steve was gay. The movie is noted for pictg homosexualy a sympathetic—read: normal—light. 4/48YouTube1975: Hot l BalmoreThe Norman Lear s starrg Jam Cromwell, Charlotte Rae and Conchata Ferrell had perhaps the first pictn of a gay uple on an Amerin TV seri.

The character was divisive at the time—early plots had him wantg to bee a woman, he dated several women—but ultimately he was primetime TV's first gay dad. 8/48FOX1991: RocOne of Fox's first shows, Roc, was the first to have a gay weddg on TV. In a "very special episo, " Roc fds out his uncle is gay and has a partner.

THE GAY FATHER I NEVER KNEW

10/481992: One Life to LiveIn 1992, the world met One Life to Live's Billy Douglas, played by a young Ryan Phillippe, the first gay teen character on daytime TV. 12/48ABC1994: My So-Called LifeWhile One Life to Live had s first gay teen 1992, primetime's first openly gay teen seri regular character me to My So-Called Life's Enrique "Rickie" Vasquez, played by Wilson Cz. Pedro was openly gay and HIV-posive.

15/481997: Ellen"The Puppy Episo" of Ellen featured Ellen Man (Ellen DeGener) g out as gay, the same time the star me out on the ver of Time magaze, makg Ellen the first show to feature an openly lbian actrs playg an openly lbian character.

18/48WB1999: Dawson's CreekWhile lbian kiss beme a ratgs ploy for shows, TV's first "romantic" gay kiss didn't happen until 1999 on The WB. 22/48CBS2007: As the World TurnsMen were kissg primetime long before daytime fally got on board, but the soaps ught up 2007 when As the World Turns featured the first-ever gay kiss between two male characters, Le Snyr (Van Hansis) and Noah Mayer (Jake Silbermann).

UK'S FIRST GAY DADS TO MAKE HISTORY BY HAVG THREE NAM ON BIRTH CERTIFITE

23/48CBS2008: Rachel MaddowThe MSNBC anchor beme the first openly gay anchor of a primetime program on a major news work. Manchter-born Tony and Barrie Drewt-Barlow ma headl the late 1990s, when they beme the first gay men the UK to bee fathers through a surrogate. “A VERY MODERN FAMILY: Bra’s first gay dads have spl after 32 years together — after one fell for their dghter’s boyiend, ” reads the ctomarily sprawlg, recent headle om The Sun, referrg to Tony and Barrie Drewt-Barlow who until recently lived on Bayshore Boulevard wh their five children.

A post on Safon’s Instagram said, “Stt told me he was gay years ago, and I agreed to help him keep his secret by pretendg to be his girliend. The dghter of Bra’s “first gay dads” spoke out about her parents’ spl on Monday, sayg she’s happy one of her dads has found love wh her ex-boyiend. “Stt had told me he was gay years ago and I agreed to help him keep his secret by pretendg to be his girliend.

The well-documented relatnship between Bra’s “first gay dads” has officially e to an end — as one of the men is now “ love” and datg his dghter’s ex-boyiend, a report said.

WHO ARE TONY AND BARRIE DREWT-BARLOW? UK'S FIRST GAY DADS ON 'BELOW DECK' N A LN-DOLLAR EMPIRE

Barrie and Tony 1999 weled tws born to a surrogate and clared themselv “Bra’s first gay dads, ” The Sun said. We are also known as Le Fab Trois onle -- which translat to The Fab Three -- and this month, we will bee the first fay wh gay dads to appear on a realy-based Disney, a ltle about : We are an ternatnal fay!

MY LNAIRE DADS AND ME! BRA'S FIRST GAY DADS, 16 YEARS ON

While there is some visibily currently for queer fai wh gay dads like Ricky Mart, Jse Tyler Fergon, Andy Cohen, Anrson Cooper, and Mr. Father of six Barrie Drewt-Barlow is havg triplets wh his new fiancé Stt Hutchson and his ex hband Tony wh the pair spendg £1ln on their IVF fayThe fay uld soon make history wh three parents listed on the birth certifitBra's first gay dads are set to wele triplets after a £1ln journey to plete their IVF fay.

Barrie and Tony were Bra's first gay dads after havg tws Safon and Aspen. ” A legal precent has been set the US by a gay “throuple”. And there you have : a fay of two gay dads, five children, two blogil mothers, two, and we mtn't fet Col, Barrie's grown-up son om a brief relatnship he had wh a woman before meetg Tony 28 years ago their native Manchter.

Barrie, a cur mixture of mother hen and gay rights zealot, is feelg broody and wants another child to feel 'plete'. Tony ns a rmatology bs Ameri, while Barrie, a man on a missn, ns the Brish Surrogacy Centre, which helps gay upl bee and Tony were pneers of a social experiment — gay parenthood — that 15 years later has bee accepted, though there remas nsirable opposn among more nservative sectns of purpose of this terview is — I thk — to troduce their two elst children to the world, to say: 'Look how we did!