Taking PRIDE in Parenthood

Part 1 – We’re welcoming Pride Month with a celebration of queer parenting. Nearly a third of LGBTQ+ adults are raising a child under 18. Yet queer families still contend with reactionary public policies and a medical system that still has a lot of catching up to do.

We’re struck by two recent studies. One suggests that more than half of queer parents in Florida have considered moving out of state after its “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. Another finds that children of queer parents have similar — and sometimes better — outcomes than children raised in “traditional” family structures.

Our film selection this month illustrates how parenting in a queer relationship can open a couple up to both harm and joy. After watching two episodes from the short documentary series “Who Gets to Parent?,” we know you’ll fall in love with its protagonists Timmia and Pere DeRoy, a Kansas couple who chose to become parents by using assisted reproductive technology.

“Who Gets to Parent?” is a powerful argument for the right of every person — queer or straight — to be free to make the reproductive choices that are right for them. Here’s to vanguards like the DeRoys who make that abundantly clear.

IN VITRO VERITAS

Part 2 – This week, we’re continuing our celebration of queer families.

We’re halfway through Pride month, and it feels like we’ve spent enough time debating how corporations co-opt queer celebrations to market their products. Instead, why not direct our attention to work made by queer people?

That’s what we’re doing in Vol. 17 of the rePROFilm Periodical, which features the documentary series “Who Gets to Parent?” When Timmia and Pere DeRoy decided to use assisted reproductive technology to start their family, they didn’t know any queer couples who had been through the same process. The grad students brought both their personal story and their research chops to the project.

The result is both useful and moving, an argument for choice-based parenting, no matter who you are.