The Racial and Ethnic Disparity and Homophobia in U.S. Sperm Banks
A new scientific journal article described the racial and ethnic breakdown of sperm donors and compared this to demographics from the United States census as well as sperm donor recipients. The results are surprising from a racial and ethnic perspective, but I also learned from this article that men who have sex with men (MSMs) are prohibited from donating to sperm banks in the U.S. In this article, I discuss the implication for this and how assisted reproductive technology (ART) in general needs to be more queer friendly.
Navigating Fertility Clinic Success Rates in the United States
Are you starting your journey through assisted reproduction and overwhelmed with how to choose a fertility clinic? After all, how do you know which clinics are ‘good?’ Does ‘good’ to you mean how many procedure they do in a year, or is it more about their success rates? I recently discovered that the U.S. government has a law that requires the approximately 500 fertility clinics in the country to report their data on the patients they work with, the procedures they do, an the success of these procedures in a single database that is curated by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). In this article, I review the database, explain how to approach it, discuss what is missing - specifically for queer intended parents - and share my plans for a more queer-friendly database.
Science Says: Gay Dads are Close to their Adult Children
In this installment of the BabyMoon Family journal club, I review the the first study of adult children of gay fathers to explore associations between timing of sexual orientation disclosure, parent-child relationship quality, and individual well being among adult children. It’s a novel study that has important applications to all queer fathers.
Lesbian Moms Can Each Carry Their Baby: New Frontiers in LGBTQ+ Reproduction
Intravaginal culture (IVC) and ‘shared motherhood’ through a novel technology called INVOcell allows lesbian mothers-to-be to each carry their child. How does IVC work? Is IVC as good as IVF? What are the benefits and challenges of IVC? All these questions are answered in this article.
Why and How I am Working to Extend Fertility Benefits at My Company and Across the Globe
Fertility benefits should be for everyone. This is a background on fertility insurance and benefits in the United States, and how I am working to extend benefits offered through my company to employees in over 100 countries outside the United States.
The BabyMoon Family Vision: A Comprehensive Reproduction Center for All Queer People
The ultimate vision for BabyMoon Family is a comprehensive reproductive center for all queer people, by queer people, leveraging the amazing LGBTQ+ community to make rainbow families a reality. This would be the world’s first queer reproductive center, but how would it work? Read more here.
Will More Queer Parents and Their Children Make the World a Better Place?
Queer intended parents (IPs) go through significant financial, emotional, and psychological challenges to have children through surrogacy. They desperately want these children. Given this, will these children grow up to be happier and have a more positive on society as a whole? This phenomenon is not new. After the passing of Roe v Wade in the U.S., children - on average - were more wanted. This led to a decrease in societal issues such as crime. Will the same be true of rainbow families?
From Stonewall to Surrogacy: The LGBTQ+ Community and Family Planning
More and more LGBTQ+ people are planning on having or growing their families. In this article, I review the latest statistics and trends for rainbow families around the world. There are several ways to have children as a queer person, and surrogacy is one option that is growing amongst queer men. Read to find out more.