Presentation to Rainbow Fertility seminar

A couple ofweeks ago, I presented to a continuing professional development seminar for GP’s- about Rainbow Fertility.

Rainbow Fertility is a new chain of  clinics specifically tailored to assist the fertility needs of LGBTI patients. I told the 50+ GP’s in Brisbane that the needs of LGBTI people were the same as straight people- they wanted to be respected when they went to the doctor, not belittled, and they wanted to have children like everyone else.

I then talked about some of the specific needs of LGBTI people in seeking to become parents. These included:

• generally adoption was not available.
• lesbian couples often sought to have a known sperm donor. My view is DON’T. However, if they wish to proceed with a known donor, then to lessen risks (but not remove them) then they ought to attend a fertility counsellor with their donor- and get a report from the counsellor setting out their intentions, and then have a written, properly drafted sperm donor contract, when hopefully both sides have had independent legal advice.
• Gay couples as a matter of course will need to pursue surrogacy- and then run into the twin problems of sourcing an egg donor and a surrogate- when there are bans on advertising (at least for surrogates) and there is a legal minefield about how to become parents.
• I talked about about how my husband Mitchell and I walked down the street holding hands. I said that we often were glared at by others who were disapproving of us holding hands- often by straight couples, also holding hands at the time. This statement was met by gasps from the audience, apparently shocked at how we were glared at. I also said that every couple of weeks we get homophobic abuse hurled at us by others- again for either just walking down the street, or for that matter again holding hands. Again, the audience gasped. I said that this kind of experience was often felt by LGBTI people- before they come in the door of their doctor’s.