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

Contents:

• GAY DADS GROUPS SEATTLE
• ‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD
• THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS
• PROVIR LEARNG SERI: MEETG THE UNIQUE NEEDS QUEER DADS: MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT GAY PARENTG
• MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI
• IS YOUR DAD GAY—OR ARE YOU A GAY DAD?
• GAY DADS OF WA - WA AUSTRALIA
• THE STORY BEHD THE INIC PHOTO OF GAY DADS KISSG

GAY DADS GROUPS SEATTLE

There are many other gay, bisexual & trans fathers who share your feelgs and your stggle. Over 40 years ago, men like you formed the Gay Fathers Associatn of Seattle (GFAS) to provi a safe and supportive environment for all fathers. Our CommunyIf you are a gay dad or a gay man wantg to bee a dad, feel ee to jo our Facebook muny page.

The muny is a safe place nnectg gay dads and their fai wh others through our muny platform and social events.

‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD

Gay Dads WA is a Wtern Atralia muny group for gay dads, allowg sharg of rmatn on beg and beg a gay parent. The group regularly holds social groups and gets volved activi to promote gay parentg and velopment Atralian legislatn towards queer Dads WA has been featured the media and has been proudly reprented at the Perth PriFEST march. Most importantly the muny brgs the children of gay parents together, sharg a mon bond of love.

This webse has been created, wh the support of Pri WA, to raise awarens of queer fai, to provi rmatn for other people wantg to bee parents, and also to give the opportuny for other gay dads to jo our muny group through Facebook. WE ARE an all-male clothg optnal bed and breakfast retreat terg to gay, bi, and straight men 21 years or olr. Gay Dads WA have been fortunate to have found partners and iends Atralia that have supported wh our parentg journeys.

The pri Communy clus lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, tersex, queer (LGBTQIA+), other people of diverse sexualy and genr, and their supporters. Morn Perth is sophistited, smopolan and wele-to-all, wh a vibrant nightlife scene filled wh gay and mixed venu. What began as a muny movement prottg discrimatory laws agast the gay and lbian muny has sce grown to PriFt.

THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS

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.

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.

PROVIR LEARNG SERI: MEETG THE UNIQUE NEEDS QUEER DADS: MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT GAY PARENTG

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.

MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI

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. 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. So I realized I was gay, but I was like sred, nfed.

IS YOUR DAD GAY—OR ARE YOU A GAY DAD?

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.

GAY DADS OF WA - WA AUSTRALIA

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.

Dpe the challeng of life as a sgle gay dad New York, Lg remas an optimist. This nversatn vers the experienc and needs of gay men who are parentg and how service provirs n be clive to all fathers they teract wh their work.

THE STORY BEHD THE INIC PHOTO OF GAY DADS KISSG

Our panelists break down mon myths about gay dads and their children and talk about their lived experienc. This Dad Alli event explor the tersectnaly of parentg and inty and dissects five mon myths about gay dads, sharg stori about their own nontatns wh the harmful stereotyp. Trey also manag Amara’s var LGBTQ+ programs cludg HRC’s All Children, All Fai program, and a partnership wh Gays wh Kids.

Fred Swanson, Gay Cy. Fred Swanson is a queer dad who grew up Virgia and moved to the Pacific Northwt 2001 to accept the posn of Executive Director at Gay Cy: Seattle's LGBTQ Center.

Such a photograph would have been extraordarily rare jt s ago, but now is one of many published the book “Dads, ” a four-year visual archive of gay fatherhood across Ameri that began 2016. “I felt a ltle b lonely as a gay dad – although there are two of – but lonely the sense that all the other fai I knew were straight parents, ” Heynen said a vio ll, explag why he began photographg the seri. “I also thought was important for (my kids) to see other fai wh gay dads.