gay parenting

I have always known that one day I would be a dad. Looking back, my fantasy always included another husband; yet, I often wondered how I would make my dream a reality. My fantasy was usually abruptly halted by the reality that a woman was needed to make this dream come true. Little did I know that my dream would become my life.

My partner and I will celebrate nine years together in July. We plan to commemorate our life together by getting married. Wow...I'm getting married. How many gays and lesbians can actually say that? I digress.

Like every gay person, you vividly remember the exhilarating moment when you stepped off the curb and into your first-ever gay pride parade. Perhaps you traveled all the way to New York City for the Mother of Gay Pride Marches. Maybe you were in San Francisco or Cincinnati or Provincetown. Wherever it was, you experienced a heady sensation of cultural pride as the collective body of gays snaked along major avenues closed off to all the straight motorists.

The answer to this question will vary from one community to another. You can generally gauge a community’s openness to a gay parent by looking at how that community has responded to a variety of hot-button issues. Use the five-item screener below to determine your school’s potential receptivity level.

The School Receptivity to Gays (SRTG) Screener

Directions: Select the multiple choice item that best describes your child’s school. Click in the bubble next to your answer. Then use the answer key to evaluate your school’s receptivity.

I am one who believes in “full disclosure” and I would like to paint a picture of me and my life so you can decide if there is a possibility of beginning, well, a beginning. As someone who writes for a living this is one of the hardest things I have had to write. I am 41, and had my own law firm but returned to a career in financial services for reasons that I will tell you about in a bit. I went to law school later in life after my best friend was killed by her husband.