A new campaign launched for Pride Month celebrates all parents, featuring the parenting journeys of people from the LGBTQIA+ community.
The #ProudParent campaign from The Positive Birth Company (PBC) wanted to challenge the underrepresentation of LGBTQIA+ parenting stories in the public eye, and the resulting heteronormative narrative surrounding parenting.
LGBTQIA+ parenting – particularly transgender parenting – is an under-researched area. According to the Office for National Statistics, it was documented that there were 212,000 same-sex families in the UK in 2019, an increase of 40% since 2015. But whether these families have had children has not been measured since 2013.
Now, people in the #ProudParent campaign are using their voices to increase visibility, and make sure LGBTQIA+ parents feel seen.
Freddy McConnell is a trans man and a solo dad by choice, deciding to become pregnant and give birth to his son himself. Freddy says: "I’m a proud parent because as a trans man, I was always told that I shouldn’t think about having kids. But I felt deep down that I should and I could, and I wanted to. So, I followed by heart and made it happen.
"I try to be visible so that more trans men and non-binary people know that they have this option too; that they can have a family and they can do it in many different ways. And this way - they way I’ve done it - is just as valid."
Steph is intersex and Alex is trans – the pair are now 26 weeks pregnant after sadly miscarrying four times. "There's this massive misconception that if you're intersex or transgender, you can't have children, so to be where we are today and 25 weeks pregnant feels like a massive achievement, especially after the recurrent miscarriages," says Steph.
"However, assumptions can be incredibly harmful so, for us, it's vital to be visible so that we can challenge the outdated views that still exist, whilst also giving hope to other LGBTQIA+ people who want to become parents."
Transgender couple Jake and Hannah Graf documented their journey in Channel 4's Our Baby: A Modern Miracle, which showed their surrogacy story with daughter Millie.
"We’re Jake and Hannah Graf and we’re a transgender couple," says Jake. "I’m an Actor, Writer and Director and this is my beautiful wife who was in the British Military for 10 years and now works in anti-financial crime. And this is our beautiful baby Millie who is just over a year old, who was born via surrogacy in April of 2020.
I’m a proud parent because I would have done anything to become a dad. And I did. And here she is!"
To see more of the #ProudParent campaign, visit thepositivebirthcompany.co.uk.
Pictures by Rachel Sherlock for The Positive Birth Company
