I had the privilege of participating in the Men Having Babies event in Brussels, Belgium last week. This event was inspiring to me. In spite of the many obstacles to family building in place for male couples in Europe, there were more than 200 men there. In fact, the event was completely sold out.

Hear from Dr. Mark Leondires of Gay Parents To Be (in association with Reproductive Medicine Associates of Connecticut) about the first steps to starting a family as a gay man. Learn more about your options for:

Big news for Gay Parents To Be. Dr. Mark Leondires, Medical Director of both RMA of Connecticut & Gay Parents To Be, explains why he and Gay Parents To Be team member James Speer, M.S, LCGC are going to Europe.

Our legal system has come to recognize and legally sanction same sex marriages and society is slowly catching up, albeit with significant growing pains, but medical insurance coverage has a long way to go when it comes to the LGBTQ community. Especially when it comes to infertility and fertility treatment.

You've decided to become a parent. Being a member of the LGBTQ community, there are financial aspects that you need to consider. At any reputable fertility program or surrogacy agency (or egg donor or sperm donor agencies), there will be no mystery about the costs.

These incredible images are available thanks to Miya Kahan. Miya is great niece of Seth Lawrence, one of the organizers of the Stonewall Riots. Just today, only a few hours ago, the Stonewall Inn was dedicated as a national monument to gay rights.

Nora Bolger is the third party reproduction nurse manager at Reproductive Medicine Associates of Connecticut (RMACT) and GayParentsToBe. This month, we sat down with her to address some of the questions and concerns gay couples have when planning to build their families.

Building a family means bringing a lot of pieces together. It helps a lot to have a generous dose of courage. You know this coming into it. While at the most basic level, you will need to ensure that the three things needed to have a baby are in place, those aren’t the only pieces that you need to consider. An egg, a sperm and a uterus. Those are the three most basic biological pieces. To have a baby, we start here.

As a community, and as a country, we are mourning the loss of LGBT people who will not be living a complete life. They will not be creating families or raising the families that they have already created. They will not be participating as friends, siblings, children, partners or spouses. They will not live the full lives that they, and we, had every reason to anticipate.

Have you ever dreamed about becoming a gay biological dad (or dads) and building a family of your own? Here is a great place to get started on learning more about the family building process for gay men.

One day while updating one of Triangle Community Center’s (TCC) social media pages I was prompted to answer a question. The question read “Triangle Community Center is in the business of . . . . “ I paused for a moment, racing through my mind, thinking of all the different programs TCC now has. (Support groups, youth groups, older adult programming, case management, financial assistance, health and wellness, and social events just to name a few.) How could I possibly summarize all of that into a succinct answer that would complete this sentence? At that same moment, I had a realization, which led me to type in just two words, “building community”. While more and more LGBTQ families flock to Fairfield County from New York City to lay down roots and raise their children in a “nice suburban community”, some may experience a lack thereof. We have all heard the adage that is “take a village” to raise a child and at TCC we know it takes a cohesive, connected and engaged LGBTQ community for our families in the area to feel supported. That is what TCC is working on building. TCC is actively engaged in the process of molding our LGBTQ communities into a single, more informed, engaged and supportive LGBTQ community.

Dr. Mark Leondires, Gay Parents To Be’s Medical Director and partner at Reproductive Medicine Associates of Connecticut (RMACT), will be speaking at an event in Washington, DC on May 10th. Dr. Leondires is speaking on behalf of EMD Serono, Inc., a leader in the US biopharmaceutical arena and fertility health.