Daniel, 6, adopted from Guatemala, was at his side.īrecher says his dream from his mid-20s was "to have a family with three children and a dog." He was married briefly, but it didn't work out. Speaking one evening via Skype, he was holding 3-month-old Ariel, born this spring to a surrogate in Minnesota. The census doesn't ask how many of those men are raising children alone versus with an unmarried partner, or if they are single fathers by choice, but adoption and surrogacy agencies say they are seeing more such dads - and not just in the U.S.Īvi Brecher, an Israeli, has traveled the globe to create a family. Gary Gates, a demographer with the institute, says that's three times more than two decades ago. The Williams Institute, a think-tank on same-sex issues at the University of California, Los Angeles, finds there were more than one million never-married men - both gay and straight - raising children in 2010.
![gay single dad gay videos gay single dad gay videos](https://www.proudparenting.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/michael103114.jpg)
"But if a guy gets called because his kid is sick and he has to leave, it's kind of like, 'Where's your wife?' " "If a mom is in a meeting and all of a sudden she gets called because her kid is sick, nobody raises an eyebrow," he says. Tessier also sees lingering sexism in the workplace. "I think we probably right now are up to about 30 calls a month," he says. With more stay-at-home dads, and fathers generally spending more time caring for kids, advocates say men are realizing they don't necessarily need a wife to be a parent.īrian Tessier recently started 411-4-DAD, a hotline for prospective single fathers. Majors says single gay men now email him or show up at parenting seminars, wanting to learn more about starting a family.Īt the same time, gender roles for straight men are evolving. "You couldn't have both."īut with the rise of same-sex marriage, gay men have pioneered the use of reproductive technology to have children. "Either you were in a heterosexual relationship and having children, or you were gay," Majors says. Steve Majors, communications director for the same-sex advocacy group Family Equality Council, says many young gay men once believed living openly gay meant not having children. Daddy's without the mom today!' " Holt says he just smiled and drove on. And said, 'Take your time, take your time. "There I was, in the car with my two kids in the backseat," he says, "and I was fumbling for the money. If a guy gets called because his kid is sick and he has to leave, it's like, 'Where's your wife?'īrian Tessier, founder of a hotline for prospective single fathers He laughs as he recalls driving through a toll booth on a recent weekend. But family and friends were ecstatic and supportive.Īs for strangers, Holt has gotten used to their assumptions about his family. When Holt decided to have kids, he didn't know any other single dad by choice. Little brother Payson is 2, and dissolves into giggles when daddy swings him up to his shoulder for a bounce.
![gay single dad gay videos gay single dad gay videos](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/c2/5d/0a/c25d0a0fdb543060f1f9f26d02148007.jpg)
A few years ago, he used an egg donor and a surrogate to create a family of his own.įirst came Christina, now 4, a strawberry-blond bundle of energy who loves to stage ballet performances in the living room of their New York City apartment. "The 'having the children thing' started to overwhelm the desire to have the relationship first," Holt says. As he approached 40, with no life partner in sight, he felt a version of the ticking biological clock. Christina (left) and brother Payson were born via an egg donor and surrogate mother.ī.J. Holt decided to start a family on his own.