G&STC’s Director Jesse Kahn talks with Lourdes Avila Uribe at Huffpost About Challenges of Queer Parenting & Resources for LGBTQ+ Family Planning
CHECK OUT G&STC’S DIRECTOR JESSE KAHN TALK WITH LOURDES AVILA URIBE AT HUFFPOST ABOUT EXPERT-BACKED RESOURCES FOR LGBTQ+ FAMILY PLANNING.
Jesse Kahn, a psychotherapist, sex therapist and director of The Gender and Sexuality Therapy Center in New York City, talked us through some of the challenges that queer couples may face on their parenting journeys. “Something as simple as having all parents’ names on the birth certificate — which is often a given for straight parents — isn’t necessarily guaranteed for queer parents,” they said.
Other potential issues Kahn noted include a lack of access to healthcare and paid parental leave policies that often leave LGBTQ+ parents out. Often, insurance companies use exclusionary language that doesn’t take queer couples into consideration. As a result, queer people often do not have the same fertility coverage options as straight couples.
As if that weren’t enough, it can be more complicated for queer parents to find social support and safe spaces, including parenting and birthing classes. This makes it of vital importance that queer people share their knowledge. Kahn, who uses they/them pronouns, told HuffPost that “a great way queer parents can support each other is by sharing their experiences as well as recommendations and resources for knowledgeable LGBTQ+ affirming providers and organizations.”
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Other issues can be access to healthcare as queer people often do not have coverage of the same fertility options due to the language of insurance policies not taking queer couples into consideration. Paid parental leave also often leaves LGBTQ+ parents out. It also may be more complicated for queer parents to find the social supports as most supportive spaces, parenting books, classes, etc. assume straightness.
Some research queer people can do at the start of there parenting journey includes talking with other queer parents, learning about your state’s laws and processes, and connecting with your local LGBTQ+ center’s parent and family program. In NY, our LGBTQ+ community center offers a lot of great resources and support.
Looking to see if there are any local groups you can join is a great place to start. But, depending on where you live, there might not be anything geared toward queer parents for you to join. But you can get a lot of support from online groups and resources, like: gayparentmag.com, www.familyequality.org/resources, www.gayparentstobe.com/resource-center and your state’s biggest cities LGBTQ+ center.