Neda Ulaby looks at the current landspe of gay characters on televisn, om the hight brows of <em>Downton Abbey</em> to the surprisgly welg world of realy shows.
Contents:
- THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS
- SGLE GAY DADS GIVE TIPS FOR FIRST-TIME PARENTS: ‘I CREATED THE VILLAGE AROUND MYSELF’
- WHO'S GAY ON TV? DADS, JOURNALISTS, INVTIGATORS AND FOOTMEN
- ‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD
- TV'S DISAPPOTG GAY DADS
THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS
For Father's Day, NPR spoke to three, gay sgle fathers who ma the choice to bee parents via surrogacy. * npr single gay dads *
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.
SGLE GAY DADS GIVE TIPS FOR FIRST-TIME PARENTS: ‘I CREATED THE VILLAGE AROUND MYSELF’
A small but growg number of men — gay and straight — are cidg to have children on their own, jt as more women began dog two s ago. Sgle dads say they still face a social stigma but fd parentg emotnally rewardg. * npr single gay dads *
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. Dpe the challeng of life as a sgle gay dad New York, Lg remas an optimist.
Holt is gay.
WHO'S GAY ON TV? DADS, JOURNALISTS, INVTIGATORS AND FOOTMEN
Steve Majors, munitns director for the same-sex advocy group Fay Equaly Council, says many young gay men once believed livg openly gay meant not havg children. "Eher you were a heterosexual relatnship and havg children, or you were gay, " Majors says.
" But wh the rise of same-sex marriage, gay men have pneered the e of reproductive technology to have children. Majors says sgle gay men now email him or show up at parentg semars, wantg to learn more about startg a fay.
He's gay, but he says half the lls he gets are om straight men. ' " 'I Will Always Be There To Love Them' The Williams Instute, a thk-tank on same-sex issu at the Universy of California, Los Angel, fds there were more than one ln never-married men — both gay and straight — raisg children 2010. And then he kd of fot that he red about the first You know, those - the nservative news works are, among other thgs, pretty homophobic.
‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD
SEDARIS: Well, I remember a uple of years ago when there was a vote North Carola to make gay marriage unnstutnal. I said, you know, my niece - her nt is gay and wants to marry her girliend.
TV'S DISAPPOTG GAY DADS
And she's - why would she want to marry a gay man, right? But to actually be lockg ey wh Ellen and hold her, shakg hands as she said, "I'm gay, " on natnal televisn and for the first time, as she has shared outloud that way publicly, was such a profoundly extraordary and timate gift to that moment that I will forever be grateful for. Image: Jackie Molloy for NPR"At that pot 1994, you didn't see many gays [on] the mp.