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

Contents:

• ‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD
• SGLE GAY DADS GIVE TIPS FOR FIRST-TIME PARENTS: ‘I CREATED THE VILLAGE AROUND MYSELF’
• HOW I ACCINTALLY FOUND OUT MY DAD IS GAY
• GROWG UP WH A GAY FATHER – CONFSNS OM A STRAIGHT SON
• DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR
• TOUCHG VIO SHOWS SON E OUT AS GAY TO MORMON DAD
• THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS
• MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI
• MY GAY DAD, MY QUEER FAY, HAPPILY EVER AFTER
• THIS AMAZG GAY DAD ADOPTED FIVE FOSTER KIDS TO KEEP THE SIBLGS TOGETHER
• HOE CALL: KEV GERS EXPLAS HIS EXPERIENCE FOSTERG-TO-ADOPT AS A GAY MAN
• GAY DADS

‘A FAY LIKE OURS’: PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERHOOD

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.

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.

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

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.

HOW I ACCINTALLY FOUND OUT MY DAD IS GAY

As a Black, gay man raisg a son on his own, Mr.

After 17 years of marriage, the 39-year-old blogger and YouTuber of @gayathomedad fame divorced om his hband.

Now the suburban hoehband and voted father is g his social media followg to share his story wh other sgle or divorced gay dads. In a new lumn for Gays wh Kids, Lowe touch on everythg om thgs to do after a breakup to balancg the holidays wh the ex. Frank Lowe: Fun gay divorce jok are hard to e by.

GROWG UP WH A GAY FATHER – CONFSNS OM A STRAIGHT SON

That wasn't the origal tent of beg this "gay-at-home dad.

" It was supposed to be this cute kid and his sassy gay dad.

DAD AND DAD: A JOURNEY TO GAY FATHERHOOD – PICTUR

But now I have this great opportuny to show that gay divorce is not terrible. It's all sunshe and unirns right now for gay men.

Wh gay marriage uld possibly e gay divorce.

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.

TOUCHG VIO SHOWS SON E OUT AS GAY TO MORMON DAD

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

THREE SGLE, GAY DADS REFLECT ON FATHERHOOD, SURROGACY JOURNEYS

“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. In this example, you happened to see him naked a settg that n be sexually arog for a lot of gay man.

Jt as you didn’t choose to be gay and have the feelgs you have.

MOVG PORTRAS OF GAY FATHERS WH THEIR FAI ACROSS AMERI

My brother picked up the word for "gay" – a word my dad repeated several tim durg that that pot, my parents had told they had problems their marriage, but a few months later, when I was around ne years old, we still went on our annual fay summer holiday to France.

Until, out of nowhere, my brother sudnly asked, "Dad, are you gay?

"There aren't a lot of gay people out there wh a wife and children, " he told me. I once tagged along wh him to his favoure gay bar, where I met all the iends he's ma there over the years. But I knew he was gay by the time I was 7 or 8.

MY GAY DAD, MY QUEER FAY, HAPPILY EVER AFTER

So this is my story of growg up wh a gay father. Growg up wh a gay father, particularly one who was aaid to e out, prented challeng our abily to get emotnally close. I don’t rell a time when I didn’t know my Dad was gay.

From my earlit memori of my Dad around age 5, I thk I always knew my dad was gay. Th I never had that aha moment of realizg “I have a gay father”! To hear both of them tell , my Dad beg gay wasn’t a factor the spl.

THIS AMAZG GAY DAD ADOPTED FIVE FOSTER KIDS TO KEEP THE SIBLGS TOGETHER

How my Dad me to terms wh beg gay.

HOE CALL: KEV GERS EXPLAS HIS EXPERIENCE FOSTERG-TO-ADOPT AS A GAY MAN

I don’t thk anyone knew yet that my Dad was gay. After all, he was the son of a Baptist Preacher and there would not have been much tolerance the 1940’s or 50’s for him to e out as gay. In talkg to both of them over the years, they both claim they had no ia my Dad was gay.

In retrospect, the fact that he was a cheerlear his bt iend was a male hairdrser (who was openly gay) that my Uncle Buddy nicknamed him “Percy” (which my Dad hated) and that my Dad went on to open a home furnishgs store might have been a clue.

Realizg his sexualy and beg a gay father the late 1960s, pecially wh me a long way away, mt have been really transformative for my Dad. He lived and around the Oak Lawn area of Dallas (long a predomantly gay or at least gay-iendly neighborhood). He was meetg lots of openly gay people & gog to clubs where was OK to be openly gay.

GAY DADS

Beg a gay father the 1960s. My Dad never actually me out as gay to me or to most people. I’d known my Dad is gay for some time, but we’d never discsed .

My Dad, of urse, was sistent that no one would obvly know he was gay (which also ma Tom and I lgh). Are you a gay father stgglg to e out?

In Loren’s se, he didn’t e to terms wh beg gay until the age of 40 and was married wh children at the time. How growg up wh a gay father affected me.