For gay men, havg a blogil child n be plited - Spe

Contents:

• ARE WE BORN GAY?
• FOR GAY MEN, HAVG A BLOGIL CHILD N BE PLITED
• CAN A CHILD BE GAY OM BIRTH?
• WHAT DO THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT BEG BORN GAY?
• IS A PERSON ‘BORN GAY’, OR IS BEG GAY A LEARNED BEHAVR?
• IS YOUR CHILD GAY?
• ‘THIS BABY WAS MEANT TO BE OURS’: A GAY UPLE’S JOURNEY TO BEE PARENTS

ARE WE BORN GAY?

Will our child grow up to be gay or straight?

FOR GAY MEN, HAVG A BLOGIL CHILD N BE PLITED

) and adult homosexualy. But on the other, he totally wrtl wh the image produced by the ia that one might be "born gay, " of a ltle male neonate appearg wh illy pk diapers and graspg a Barbie doll. Plörl pared self-clared homosexual or heterosexual inti adults to their memori of genr nformy childhood.

First, by ncentratg on the left si of the graphs, the rear n see that there is a segment of adult gay men who remember beg highly genr non-nformg as kids.

But there were a signifint number of genr-nformg men who, nohels, veloped a gay or bisexual inty adulthood. Maybe we n agree that the image evoked by "born gay"—that ltle girl neonate appearg wearg overalls and graspg a toy tck—do not help thk through qutns of sexual sire and inty.

CAN A CHILD BE GAY OM BIRTH?

It’s not pletely known why someone might be lbian, gay, straight, or bisexual. You also n’t “turn” a person gay.

For example, exposg a boy to toys tradnally ma for girls, such as dolls, won’t e him to be gay.

Many people say that they knew they were lbian, gay, or bisexual even before puberty.

WHAT DO THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT BEG BORN GAY?

” Many people, cludg sex rearchers and scientists, believe that sexual orientatn is like a sle wh entirely gay on one end and entirely straight on the other. LGBTQ stands for Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgenr, and Queer/Qutng. Sexual inty is how you label yourself (for example, g labels such as queer, gay, lbian, straight, or bisexual).

Some people may engage same genr sexual behavr but not intify themselv as bisexual, lbian, or gay. 5% intify as lbian, gay, or bisexual.

IS A PERSON ‘BORN GAY’, OR IS BEG GAY A LEARNED BEHAVR?

But for gay men, this procs is plited and expensive. The procs tak about two years and sts around $200, 000 per child - and prospective gay fathers don't meet eligibily creria for most health surance plans' fertily benefs, although this is begng to change.

Brent Monsr, MD, recently helped lead a study to document tails of how gay men e assisted reproductive technology to build their fai, cludg qutns such as how many children they wish to have and how often their efforts succeed. As a gay person growg up a nservative environment, this was a challenge I thought about. I asked them how I uld start a fay as a gay man.

IS YOUR CHILD GAY?

We don't take re of gay men... Your paper giv historil ntext for how shiftg attus toward LGBTQ fai have changed the climate for gay men who want to bee fathers.

There has been a lot of foc the scientific lerature on whether children turn out OK if they have gay parents. A gay uple New York State recently sued, sayg those creria are discrimatory.

‘THIS BABY WAS MEANT TO BE OURS’: A GAY UPLE’S JOURNEY TO BEE PARENTS

Why is important for the experienc of gay men seekg fertily re to be reflected the scientific lerature? Cisgenr gay men are almost never clud this rearch, so as physicians we don't know anythg about their characteristics as reproductive health patients, even basic rmatn such as their mographics, clil cisn-makg patterns or out.

Our paper ed data om one of the very few fertily benef pani that do offer fertily verage to gay men. That gave a wdow to a natnal group of 119 cisgenr men, cludg five sgle men and 57 gay upl, who uniquely had fertily benefs. It's important to keep md that our data reflect the experienc of dividuals who n afford reproductive medil re bee their employer-sponsored fertily benefs ver , and that is still an unual suatn for gay men.