LGBT couples and individuals have many needs for assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to assist in building their families.
Lesbian couples and single lesbians will need to use sperm donation to achieve pregnancy and may also consider using donated embryos or creating their own embryos through in vitro fertilization.
Gay men will need egg donors to create embryos and then will need gestational carriers to carry their embryos.
Transgender people may seek to preserve their fertility by moderating hormone therapy when they want to have children or to retrieve and store sperm or eggs awaiting the decision to parent.
What all LGBT people share in the decision to use ART is the need for an experienced lawyer to assure them that their choices will result not only in their being able to have children, but to make sure that their parental rights to those children are secured.
Deb Guston is a Fellow of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys and can help you make the right choices for family formation. Guston & Guston can help you navigate the variety of laws and policies across the country that may affect your rights to use assisted reproduction to build your family. Deb Guston is a Member of the National Family Law Advisory Committee of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NFLAC) and a Member of the LGBT Family Law Institute, a national organization of family lawyers with extensive experience in LGBT family law.
For more information on LGBT assisted reproductive rights, the following organizations have important and interesting information:
The Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys
www.adoptionART.org
National Center for Lesbian Rights
http://www.nclrights.org/our-work/family-relationships/
American Civil Liberties Union
https://www.aclu.org/issues/lgbt-rights/lgbt-parenting
GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD)
https://www.glad.org/issues/parenting/
Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
https://www.lambdalegal.org/issues/marriage-relationships-and-family-protections