Thread by @RachelKorberg

Hey #DemographyTwitter + #EconTwitter, why have we not talked about #LGBTQ parenthood in all of the coverage about the #decliningbirthrate?

1 in 6 Gen Zers in the US identify as LGBTQ. We are not a small group.

And we are an even bigger part of the future. (1/)

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

There are lots of queer people who would love to be parents but cannot do so given the costly + painful structures of discrimination around #LGBTQ parenthood. (2/)

My wife and I are privileged to have great jobs + employer health insurance. Still, we endured years of discrimination at the hands of health insurance companies + medical providers to create our (amazing) kid. And we had to spend tens of thousands of dollars. (3/)

Imagine what it’s like for the majority of queer people who don’t have our privileges. (4/)

A sample of real things that happened in our journey to parenthood (drum roll 🥁🥁please):

(5/)

Being asked by a health insurance representative if I could have sex with a
man to make a baby (6/)

Being officially denied medically necessary fertility coverage on the basis of being gay, meaning we’d have to spend tens of thousands of dollars to conceive vs very little if we were straight (we recorded the conversation and cried) (7/)

Being forced to undergo a two-hour, mandatory psychological assessment of our fitness to parent our own child (8/)

Being excluded from a recent NY State law celebrated as a step forward for fertility rights, despite it denying female same-sex couples the support it extended to straight people (9/)

Note: my Tweet is not to suggest a declining birth rate is a problem. But if a goal we all agree on is that parenthood should be accessible and affordable for people who do want to be parents, we must stop leaving #LGBTQ people out of the conversation.

CC @janecoaston

(10/)

Also: shout out to the amazing groups working on #PaidLeaveforAll that have centered equity — inclusive of LGBTQ people + families — in their advocacy and policy development. @IWPResearch @PaidLeaveforAll @nwlc + many more.

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