The first ever event aiming to demystify the process of becoming a parent for the gay community and single people, ‘The Alternative Families Show’ was held yesterday, Saturday 23rd October 2010, within the Grand Connaught rooms, London. The show was organised by Littlepink, social network and Square Peg Media, in partnership with Stonewall, the gay, lesbian and bisexual charity. Square Peg Media is the publisher of G3 magazine, Out in the City magazine and Proud magazine.
The organisers said ‘We are really pleased with the response we have had, with over a thousand people attending. It has been a huge success and is something we will definitely be continuing to run next year’
The event brought expert advisors together from fertility clinics, adoption and fostering agencies to co-parenting websites to include Pride Angel which is now the leading connection service for gay, lesbian, single and infertile couples wishing to find known sperm donors and co-parents.
Pride Angel said ‘It was fantastic to hear all the positive comments about our service. Many lesbian women really liked the idea of having a ‘dad’ involved in their children’s lives. Many gay couples who had previously believed that surrogacy or adoption was the only method of starting a family, where extremely interested in potential co-parenting arrangements‘.
The show also ran several seminars throughout the day giving advice about fostering and adoption, using a known sperm donor, the legal side of co-parenting, using nutrition to boost fertility and help prevent miscarriage, surrogacy – the law and choosing surrogacy abroad. Stonewall presented a seminar regarding children from different families, about gay families and schools. Lastly but not least, Littlepink, a network for same sex parents and children spoke about the importance of support networks and the value behind a community.
For more information about parenting options for lesbian, gay, single and infertile couple visit www.prideangel.com