Two gay men
For gay men, having a biological kid can be complicated
Most people hoping to become parents envision having children who are genetically comparable to them. But for gay men, this process is complicated and overpriced. Seeing it through involves collaboration with a fertility healer, a lawyer, a gestational carrier (a.k.a. surrogate mother) and an egg donor. The process takes about two years and costs around $200,000 per toddler - and prospective gay fathers don't meet eligibility criteria for most health insurance plans' fertility benefits, although this is beginning to change.
Brent Monseur, MD, recently helped steer a study to document details of how gay men use assisted reproductive technology to develop their families, including questions such as how many children they wish to have and how often their attempts succeed. Monseur, who is completing his postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford Medicine in reproductive endocrinology and infertility, spoke with me about the research, which appeared Aug. 4 in Fertility & Sterility Reports.
How did this study come about?
A refrain that many LGBTQ people, including myself, heard after coming out, was, "You'll never be able to possess a
IVF (In Vitro Fertilization) for Queer Men
IVF for Gay Men
IVF involves retrieving donor eggs, and fertilizing them in a laboratory using sperm from one or both partners in order to generate embryos. A healthy embryo is then placed into the uterus of a gestational surrogate to achieve pregnancy. IVF may be used in conjunction with embryo genetic testing (known as Preimplantation Genetic Testing, or PGT) in order to identify the healthiest embryo for transfer. RMA of New York has helped countless LGBTQIA+ individuals and couples establish their families since opening our doors over 20 years ago.
Gay men, same-sex male couples, and couples with two sperm providers who wish to grow their biological families may choose to use IVF. First, a sperm source is identified, which may be your own sperm or that of a donor. Couples may choose to utilize sperm from one or both partners. The next step is selecting an egg donor as successfully as a gestational surrogate. These are two separate individuals. The egg donor will provide the other half of the genetics of the baby while the gestational surrogate later carries the pregnancy. After medical screenings acquire been performed and lega
Forbidden love: The WW2 letters between two men
But was this a love story with a happy ending?
Probably not. At one show, Mr Bradley was sent to Scotland on a mission to defend the Forth Bridge. He met and fell in affection with two other men. Rather surprisingly, he wrote and told Mr Bowsher all about his romances north of the border. Perhaps even more surprisingly, Mr Bowsher took it all in his stride, writing that he "understood why they fell in love with you. After all, so did I".
Although the couple wrote throughout the war, the letters stopped in 1945.
However, both went on to enjoy interesting lives.
Mr Bowsher moved to California and became a well-known horse trainer. In a strange twist, he employed Sirhan Sirhan, who would depart on to be convicted of assassinating Robert Kennedy.
Mr Bradley was briefly entangled with the MP Sir Paul Latham, who was imprisoned in 1941 monitoring a court martial for "improper conduct" with three gunners and a civilian. Sir Paul was exposed after some "indiscreet letters" were discovered.
Mr Bradley moved to Brighton and died in 2008. A property clearance company found the letters and sold them to a dealer specia
Is there any way for a homosexual couple to own a child that is their own?
Not right now, no. However, scientists include made a lot of progress in this area during the past couple of years!
Scientists hold been able to make mouse embryos from two female parents or two male parents. Unfortunately, these techniques own not had upper rates of triumph so far. But maybe in the next couple of decades some of these tricks and techniques could be applied to humans!
Both egg and sperm are needed to make an embryo
In mammals like us, an egg and a sperm want to come together to create offspring. When the egg and sperm combine into one modern cell, it then starts dividing as an embryo. We can’t just combine two eggs together, or two sperm.
Scientists have even tested this in the lab. When they tried combining two eggs together from mice, none were able to develop.1 The same is true for two sperm.
So how are eggs and sperm different? Why perform we need one of each?
The difference isn't due to DNA sequences. Eggs and sperm both have half a set of DNA. And there aren't any major differences in the type of DNA that they carry (though some sperm bear a Y chromosome).
The difference comes down to s