LGBTQ Family Building

A Lesson on Visibility

As Trans Day of Visibility just passed by a few weeks ago, we took the time to reminisce about a particular encounter we had with a patient we’ll call Jordan. Jordan was a 39-year-old man with a very stoic demeanor, coming to our clinic for a meet-and-greet asking about the services we provide for LGBTQ+ patients. We gave him the rundown of how we’re a clinic that supports and welcomes all couples, regardless of gender or sexual identity, in addition to the treatment options.

We told him about his options as a gay man when it came to conceiving a child. He was kind enough to let us finish our explanation before informing us that he was assigned female at birth and was more interested in the sort of services we offered for transgender individuals with female partners.

We’re quite fortunate that most of our patients are very kind and understanding, but we took it as a lesson that day to ask beforehand and elude any possibility for assumptions. We want our patients to feel seen, heard, and understood.

What Fertility Treatment Options do LGBTQ+ couples have?

As a GNF standard, transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and gender-nonconforming couples have the same options with assisted reproductive technologies as heterosexual couples do, except for certain key differences.

When it comes to transgender individuals seeking fertility treatments, it’s most important to acknowledge previous medical history: what was the sex assigned at birth, what hormone(s) they are currently taking, how long they have been taking those hormones, if they have any sperm already cryogenically stored with a bank prior to transitioning, etc.

People with uteruses may choose to be the carrier for the pregnancy or may decide to use a surrogate, may choose to use their partner’s sperm (if applicable) or decide to use donor sperm, or even decide to undergo reciprocal in vitro fertilization if both partners would like to be involved.

People with testes may choose to be the sperm donor or may choose to use their partner’s sperm (if applicable). There are many options for deciding on the right egg donor, as well as choosing a surrogate. Often, same-sex male couples will decide to be surprised by having both partners collect and have the Andrologist decide on the best-quality sperm.

As a standard, Generation Next Fertility strives for every couple to have access to the care and treatments they feel would suit their needs, wants, and expectations best.

Natural IVF as an Alternative

Another procedure many Queer couples find appealing is Natural IVF because it requires less medications and injections compared to Traditional IVF. This works by monitoring the natural menstrual cycle in order to time exactly when a mature egg will be released from the ovary so that our Embryologists can fertilize the egg and transfer it back into the womb. This can be paired with Genetic Testing of both the sperm and egg contributors as well as the resulting embryo to ensure the highest success of implantation and a healthy pregnancy.

Generation Next Fertility takes pride in our belief that every individual should be able to have a family of their choice and that a definition of what a family means is something specific and special to every patient we see.  Our specialists work intimately with our patients to achieve that goal and always look for ways to improve our perspective, protocols, and personalized care. When love is love, we know that they will be loving parents.