Showing titles in Parenting & Families

The path to parenthood is never easy, but for LGBTQ+ people, it can be even less straightforward. There are more options than ever before for queer people to start families, but a lack of specific information and resources can leave would-be parents floundering. From IVF to surrogacy to adoption, there is so much to learn and consider. How do you work out the best option for you?

Linda Gromko, MD, is a board-certified family physician who has worked with the transgender community for more than 20 years. She explains the basics of gender identity, sexual orientation, puberty, puberty blockers, hormone treatments, and gender-affirming surgeries. She shares years of her patients' wisdom and practical information on getting through every day in the best way possible - from coming out to parents, to school issues, to coping with depression, to love and sex.

Drawing on the author's experience as a mother walking with and learning from her own transgender child, as well as working with hundreds of families across the country doing the same, this book helps parents navigate the emotional, spiritual, and logistical landscape of raising a gender-diverse child.

When Jackson's son born through surrogacy came out to him at age 15, the successful producer, now in his 50s, was compelled to reflect on his experiences and share his wisdom on life for LGBTQ Americans over the past half-century. Gay Like Me is a celebration of gay identity and parenting, and a powerful warning for his son, other gay men, and the world. Jackson looks back at his own journey as a gay man coming of age through decades of political and cultural turmoil.

Sean Szeps had wanted to be a mum since the age of four when he fell in love with Mrs Potts, the motherly teapot in Beauty and the Beast. But there was just one problem – he was not, in fact, a woman. But when he was swept off his feet by a handsome Australian man in New York City, Szeps's dreams of marriage and parenthood seemed – for the very first time – within reach. There were just a few little things still standing in his way – outdated marriage laws, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a healthy dose of internalised homophobia.

You see, achieving self-acceptance and inner peace doesn’t have to be an overwhelming struggle. Even if you’ve faced rejection or felt alone in your journey, the truth is, achieving a deep, authentic connection with yourself is much easier than you might think. Authored by Callie Parker, who has navigated these very challenges, this book offers you a step-by-step guide to understanding yourself deeply without conforming to societal norms.

Same-sex couples (gay dads, lesbian moms, or other queer couples) are faced with many different options when choosing to have a family that includes beautiful children. In Journey to Parenthood, author, activist, and father Eric Rosswood guides and helps prospective LGBTQIA parents explore adoption, foster care, assisted reproduction, surrogacy, and coparenting. Each section includes a description of a specific family-building approach, followed by personal stories from same-sex couples and individuals who have chosen that particular path.

Peter has motor neurone disease, a condition universally considered by doctors to be terminal. It will destroy his nerve cells, and he is told that within an average of two years, it will take his life, too. But, face to face with death, he decides there is another way. Using his background in science and technology, he navigates a new path, one that will enable him not just to survive but to thrive.

The goal of Trans-Parent Love is to help promote conversations that get people talking about the questions, concerns, and commonalities we have with each other while navigating change. In our current culture, our children are leading a revolution of honesty, bravery, and transparency that is both beautiful and baffling for parents and family members. When a person identifies as transgender, they have had this internal conversation for quite some time. Like any change in plans, it can provoke anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and ultimately acceptance and PRIDE.

How Coddling Kids Is Killing Kids' Confidence is about a boxing coach (Donté) who shares tips with parents to help them prepare their child(ren) for adulthood. What Donté has targeted in this book is that mental health concerns were happening WAY before the pandemic was a concern, and what he saw was how parenting was causing much of the mental health crisis. Instead of reacting to the variety of concerns parents were coming to him to help their kids with, he decided to be proactive and write a book to help parents at home to solve some of the root problems.

It's Not Transphobic to Say Your Daughter Is A Girl: The Wise Lesbian Guide for Progressives allows parents to see the current explosive growth in girls seeking "gender transition" through the lens of sociology, gay and lesbian history, and recent data on the long-term risk of childhood and adolescent medicalization in the pursuit of expressing trans identities.

Journey to Lavender is a heartfelt and insightful guide for parents, caregivers, and allies on a path toward understanding and acceptance. Written from a mother’s perspective, this book dives deeply into the complexities of gender identity, reflecting on personal experiences and lessons learned. With empathy and openness, the author shares her evolving understanding of the gender spectrum, offering guidance on creating a nurturing, judgment-free environment that honors each child’s unique path.

With considerations of historical, cultural, and developmental contexts; explorations of relationship diversity as it manifests in queerness, the ace and aro spectrum, non-monogamy and neurodivergence; and a look towards deeper, compassionate, interdependent ways to relate - this book will help people of all ages, backgrounds and identities explore their relational world.

In this book, Kyle and Mike aim to break down the most prolific gay stereotypes in popular discourse - drawing on personal experience, up-to-date research, social history and maybe even Wikipedia to demonstrate first-hand how we're all a mixture of gay and straight stereotypes. So - whether you're gay or not - you're probably gayish...

So often trans and nonbinary people’s stories are told only through the lens of their struggles and challenges, including their political battles for legal rights, but trans and nonbinary people live rich and fulfilling lives full of joy and community too. Authentic Selves: Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families is a sweeping compilation of life stories and portraits of trans and nonbinary people, as well as their partners, parents, children, siblings, and chosen family members.

After her parents' divorce in 1974, Lisa Lucca's idyllic Midwestern childhood is shattered when she learns her father is gay. Sworn to secrecy, she begins carrying the emotions of her family like a cracked bucket, making a mess as she embarks on a life of rebellious choices. Decades later, faced with the aftermath of her father’s death, Lisa revisits the complicated relationship she had with him, delving deeper into the stories she’s held about love, sexuality, and the family she comes from with a shimmering clarity that arises from her grief.

Picking up where he left off at the end of his widely praised debut memoir, One of These Things First, Gaines recounts his hilarious, sometimes poignant attempt to forge a writing career and a successful love life in the gay world of the 1970s. He has limited success until he falls in love with an older woman dying of cancer.

Every story needs a hero. Sanctuary tells a story where the Church is the hero. Using experiences from his own life, Harry Schenkel relates how the Church has been the safe place and guiding light through many of life’s darkest moments. From drug addicted parents, to family sexual abuse, through a broken marriage, and his first son’s struggle with sexual identity, the Church, built upon the love and grace of Jesus Christ, has been Harry’s sanctuary. By telling his story, he hopes that the Church will be your sanctuary also.

As the daughter of two gay fathers in the '90s, Chelsea has always had a different outlook than some people. And yet, her message is one of universal importance—love is the most important force in the world. Through her moving and at times hilarious memoir, Chelsea reflects on how we are all much more similar than we are different.

Language is a key path to awareness, acceptance, and empowerment. It's central to understanding the world and the communities we live in, but it can often be tricky to keep up with correct and ever evolving terminology. This easy-to-use dictionary introduces the most essential vocabulary surrounding LGBTQ+ identities. Whether you're questioning your own identity or simply interested in learning more, this useful guide will help you navigate the world with knowledge, understanding, and kindness.