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NEW GAY PARENT MAGAZINE ISSUE

Now available is our 26th anniversary November-December 2024 issue #157

Read a digital copy FREE here, https://bit.ly/40mVfGs

Visit our website for family resources https://www.gayparentmag.com/

Snapshot:

Gay Parent Magazine’s November-December issue #157 marks our 26th year of publishing. When Gay Parent Magazine was first launched, LGBTQ parenting information was not readily available as it is today, so we received extremely positive feedback from parents feeling isolated. Since then, we’ve witnessed and reported on many milestones, from first gay adoptions and LGBTQ singles and couples fulfilling their dreams of raising children, to legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, and watching our LGBTQ community achieve pivotal roles in local, state and now federal government.

On our cover meet Morgan Henry Kerr and her family. Morgan says she is “a creative, proud wife and queer mom from the Pacific Northwest in her perimenopause and preschool era.” Morgan talks about her parenting journey and where it has led her.

November is National Adoption Month and in this issue we feature Brian and Don of the Hiller-Dupont family of New York. Brian's and Don's musical backgrounds brought them together. The couple became parents after adopting Brandon. Brian observed the interaction between his husband and their nephew, and in a flash, ran outside, and said, “We need to add to our family.” Interested in adding to your family? Use our list of adoption and foster care related resources and services in this issue to build your family.

David F.M. Vaughn and Gavin Lodge are the hosts of an irreverent, informative, and inspiring podcast called Gaytriarchs. Read why they chose that name and about their families. David summed it up best by stating, “it is progress when a comedy show about gay parenting can exist.”

Regular contributor, Ali Rothlizzi writes about her family attending their local Pride celebration on Long Island, New York as well as their vacation to Hershey Park in Pennsylvania.

Learn about a new social platform for LGBTQIA+ families called Tumy Time.

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GPM asked NYC single mom and writer Issa M. Mas to share a little about her family including son Theo, and their dog Jake. Issa said she’s raised seventeen-year-old Theo on her own his entire life, and they are very close. She did mention that they are a family of three though, “…because we have a 14-lb. Yorkshire terrier mix, Jake, who thinks he’s a 100-lb Pitbull. He’s 12 years old but you wouldn’t be able to tell because he still runs around managing everyone like the tiny boss that he is.”

One interesting fact about their family is that when Theo was having a difficult time after 6th grade, Issa made the decision to homeschool him instead. Issa explained that “Theo is an extremely bright alternative learner whose educational needs were not being met. [Issa decided she would] pull him from traditional schooling and homeschool him instead. It was the right decision for him as he is thriving in a way I highly doubt he would’ve in a brick-and-mortar school.” Amazing that Issa was able to recognize that Theo’s needs weren’t being met and changed the situation to fit his needs. 

Issa M. Mas won an award for her writing from NYC's mayor when she was age 7. As an adult she says that Buddhism helped when her dad passed and it also helped with her writing. Learn more in the article Author and single parent, Issa M. Mas by Deadra Albrecht-Frasch in the free May-June issue of Gay Parent Magazine available here: https://bit.ly/43Vi06k

Life isn't a Disney fairy tale, but I’m all about shattering those glass slippers anyways. There will be spilled sauce, picky eating phases, and disagreements. But amidst the mess, there's the magic – the magic of connection, the magic of learning, and the magic of raising a kind and compassionate human. So, let's grab a fork, pull up a chair, and continue creating our own "Meatball Magic," one delicious, heart-warming conversation at a time.

Just over three years ago, a new Tuesday ritual began with my son, Trey, now age five. After school pick-up, we'd head across the parking lot, not to any ordinary place, but to his self-proclaimed "Meatball House" – a delightful coal-fired pizza joint. What started as a desire to teach him manners, especially towards women, has grown into something far more incredible. Learn more in the article Meatball Magic: Mixing up Kindness and Acceptance one Date at a Time by Amy Murphy in the free May-June issue of Gay Parent Magazine available here: https://bit.ly/43Vi06k

As the publisher of this magazine, with Gay Parent Magazine’s team, we’ve been featuring a multitude of parenthood stories of people in the LGBTQ community, placing them in the forefront on the magazine’s pages, for over twenty years. I’ve had the opportunity to talk about my own family story in this magazine but chose to amplify the voice of others. Now, I’ve decided to step forward and tell my story, still not on GPM’s pages, but in a new personal blog on Substack titled, My life and letting go.

So far, I’ve written about my life way back before I ever had the notion of publishing a small magazine (actually I wrote about a period in my life when I was in my 20s and an ex-girlfriend dumped me). I wrote about living in New York City in the 1980s as a young lesbian. I also mentioned that I published a holistic health magazine in Hawaii prior to publishing Gay Parent Magazine in New York. I’ll be writing about living in both Hawaii, where I was born and raised, and where I currently reside in New York City. I’ll touch on my experiences of being a gay Asian American woman now empty nesting with my wife.

Read My life and letting go here, https://substack.com/@angelineacain

NEW GAY PARENT MAGAZINE ISSUE

Now available, our March-April 2025 issue #159

Read a digital copy FREE here: https://bit.ly/3EKdvRG

Content:

We revisit the Taylor family of Texas, first featured in GPM in 2016. The Taylors run a family owned and operated business called Choice Surrogacy Inc.®. For over 30 years they have helped thousands of LGBTQ people build their families. Read how the Taylor family has grown since we last featured them.

When Chelsea Devona and her wife Jessica began their fertility journey, they chose a known donor from among their circle of friends. But to their dismay, their chosen donor’s results showed potentially “significantly decreased fertility.” From supplements to activities, Chelsea Devona lists six things their sperm donor did to increase his fertility. First of two articles in this issue by Chelsea Devona.

In this second article by Chelsea Devona, she writes about wanting “Irish Twins” but she and her wife now have “Irish Triplets.”

This is our 26th annual issue highlighting family building through assisted reproduction. Included is a list of LGBTQ friendly assisted reproductive businesses that can assist you with surrogacy, donors, fertility, IVF, pregnancy, and childbirth.

In this issue, we remember Darren Paul-Vance, the executive director of the support group, Rainbow Families. Georgette Brown, president of Rainbow families board of directors, writes, “Darren was a singular presence in our lives. While we mourn his passing, we also recall with joy the force for good that he was. He worked hard to help create a better world for families like ours—and his.”

L. Scott Helms of GayRealEstate.com chats about what he knows about the current geographical movement of LGBTQ people.

Angeline Acain started Gay Parent Magazine in 1998. Now in 2025, Angeline has started a new personal blog on Substack called My life and letting go. Says Angeline, “So far, I’ve blogged about my life way back before I ever had the notion of publishing a small magazine. Actually I wrote about a period in my life when I was in my 20s and an ex-girlfriend dumped me.”

Each year in our March-April issue we publish a list of LGBTQ friendly camps and summer day programs that advertise in this issue. Also listed are independent schools, some offering summer programs. The camps and schools are located in California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Visit www.gayparentmag.com. Thank you for following our page.

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Eoin and Mark always knew they wanted to be parents, and felt they were well-prepared for it, having had plenty of babysitting practice with the twenty nieces and nephews between them back in Ireland.

They started moving forward with growing their family during the pandemic, regardless of the delays to their wedding plans.

Eoin had investigated adoption in a previous relationship in Ireland, but it had left a bad taste with him, “They basically told us it could take over seven years, and that gay couples were the last on the list,” he retells.

That left surrogacy as their option of choice.

Two (Irish) men and a surrogacy - Mark O'Looney and Eoin Cannon were both born in Dublin. Now they're raising two daughters together in NYC. Read more in the article Two Men and a Surrogacy by Gary Hurtubise in the free January-February issue of Gay Parent Magazine available here: https://bit.ly/49Tu88N

Anthony Hairston is a 42-year-old gay single parent of Li, his 24-year-old daughter. Anthony was recently a runner up on the OUT TV network show, For the Love of DILFs--a reality show based on men in their forties and older, who are attracted to younger men and the men who are attracted to older men.

“As a queer father, the journey has been filled with both progress and setbacks. Being a cast member and finalist on For the Love of DILFs has shed light on the spectrum of emotions I've experienced, from the overwhelming love and compassion from our community and allies to the stark reality of enduring hate and discrimination. Despite strides forward, social stigma persists, targeting not just my lifestyle but also casting doubt on my capabilities as a parent and undermining my role as a father. Prejudiced attitudes rooted in homophobia persist and are alive in the messages I’ve received on Instagram and with such hostility this not only undermines the wellbeing of LGBTQ families but also perpetuates systemic inequalities.”

In this article, For the Love of Anthony Hairston by Dane Miller, Anthony discusses his road to parenthood and participating in the reality show, For the Love of DILFs. Available in the free January-February issue of Gay Parent Magazine available here: