The Queer Family Podcast – LGBTQ Families & Queer Parenting Stories

What happens when the sperm donor you never expected to know suddenly becomes someone you could text? Jaimie is joined by her wife, Anne, for a candid, funny, and occasionally heated conversation about a surprising new chapter in their family's donor-conception journey. What started as a simple question about their daughter's medical history led to something neither of them anticipated: th...

What does it take for two gay dads to build a family through foster care? Psychologist and author Dr. Kevin Nadal shares how he and his husband went from newly approved foster parents to raising three biological siblings, all adopted through New York City's foster care system. From receiving a call about a newborn with less than a day's notice to navigating adoption during a global pandemi...

B.J. Woodstein is a queer mom, doula, lactation consultant, author, and LGBTQ+ specialist who knows firsthand how much the right support can change a family’s experience. After difficult pregnancies, birth complications, painful breastfeeding, and healthcare providers who didn’t always understand her two-mom family, B.J. became the kind of provider she wished she’d had. Jaimie and B.J. talk about...

description  Sydney and Gina knew they wanted to build a family—and they knew, as a lesbian couple, it would take planning. What they didn’t expect was a stage-three endometriosis diagnosis right as they began trying to conceive. In this episode, they walk Jaimie through their queer fertility journey: choosing a known sperm donor, navigating the legal agreements, three failed IUIs, the emotional a...

Meghan and Erika never imagined parenthood would be part of their story. Growing up without examples of queer families—and navigating neurodivergence and fears about losing themselves in parenthood—they weren't even sure they wanted children. Then listening to this podcast helped Meghan realize there might be another possibility. Now they're raising their three-year-old son, Nova, with ano...

What happens when you want to build a family—but have no idea where to start? Kaelyn, known online as one half of @kaelynandveronica , joins Jaimie to share how she and her wife found their way to parenthood by doing what so many LGBTQ+ families do: looking to the families who had done it before them. Kaelyn shares the emotional—and sometimes surprising—process of choosing a sperm donor, two years...

Is your LGBTQ family as legally protected as you think it is? LGBTQ+ family law attorney Rachel Levy joins Jaimie to break down the legal steps queer and trans families should know about—from confirmatory and second-parent adoption to donor agreements, estate planning, healthcare decisions, name changes, gender markers, and more. Rachel explains why being listed on your child's birth certifica...

What happens when three people intentionally choose to build a family together? Vikram Kolmannskog is a psychotherapist, writer, and dad raising his four-year-old son with his husband, Daniel, and their son's mother, Cecilia. From finding each other through a queer family forum to navigating home insemination, biology, and the realities of three-parent co-parenting, their path to family is any...

Reid Vanderburgh spent more than 20 years living in lesbian community before realizing he was trans. More than 30 years later, he's a retired therapist, author, stepfather, chosen grandfather, and proud trans elder. Reid joins Jaimie to talk about finding the language to understand yourself, becoming the therapist he once needed, and why younger generations give him hope. They also explore cho...

Not every episode about queer families is about making a family. Sometimes it's about healing the person who became one. This week, Jaimie sits down with Bronwin Parks and Elinor Svoboda, hosts of the Late in 88 podcast, to explore the "baby gay" still living inside all of us. Together they unpack growing up queer in the 80s and 90s, the importance of queer history, how today's pol...

Melissa Pas Blake grew up with two dads—but not in the way many queer families exist today. After losing her mother to cancer at just six years old, Melissa was raised by her father and his lifelong partner, Ken, throughout the 1970s and 80s, long before LGBTQ+ families had visibility or legal protections. In this heartfelt conversation, Melissa shares what it was like growing up in a loving home...

When a clip from one of our earlier Tea Time episodes sparked a heated debate online, we knew we had to dedicate an entire episode to it. This week, we're unpacking the history of "lesbian bed death"—where the term came from, why many researchers now reject it, and whether it's time for queer women to reclaim it altogether. We talk about intimacy, consent, long-term relationships,...

Anne has officially finished her final cancer treatment. In this special Tea Time episode, Jaimie sits down with her pal Dianni for an honest conversation about what comes next for her family after a year and a half of chemotherapy, surgeries, radiation, targeted treatment, and caregiving. Jaimie talks about how cancer changed their family, what it was like watching their children navigate the jou...

What really happens behind the scenes of The Queer Family Podcast? 👀 In this special preview of Tea Time with Jaimie & Dianni , Jaimie is spilling the tea on podcast guest pet peeves, the secret ways she can tell whether someone pitching themselves for the show has actually listened, and what happens when people come on with an agenda of their own. Yes, there are secret tests. Yes, Jaimie kno...

Tea Time with Jaimie & Dianni is a subscriber-only bonus series where Jaimie and her friend Dianni sit down for short, fun, unfiltered conversations about their very different queer little lives. It’s casual, behind-the-scenes, and a little messy—in the best way. This week, the tea is hot. ☕️ Jaimie and Dianni are pulling back the curtain on what really happens behind the scenes of The Queer...

Wilma and Marilyn—better known as The Rainbow Aunties—have loved each other for more than four decades. But for much of that time, they couldn't live openly as a couple. In this moving conversation, they share how they fell in love in college while Marilyn was in a relationship with a man, why they spent years hiding their relationship, and how military policies, religion, fear, and the threat...

When Calypso and her wife Nat decided to start their family, they never imagined the twists and turns ahead. From navigating the UK's fertility system and searching for a known donor to traveling internationally for IVF, their journey was filled with unexpected setbacks, difficult decisions, and more than a few emotional rollercoasters. In this episode, Calypso shares how one embryo became one...

Jake and Sean never expected a conversation on Grindr to lead to marriage, parenthood, and three kids at once. Raised in conservative Mormon families, both men spent years trying to reconcile their faith with their sexuality. In this episode, they share how they met while still closeted, fell in love while trying to "find wives," navigated coming out, left the LDS church, and eventually bu...

The babies aren't babies anymore. In this candid conversation, Jaimie sits down with returning guest and friend José Rolón (NYC Gay Dad) to talk about parenting preteens and teenagers as LGBTQ+ parents. From puberty and emotional regulation to first crushes, social media, and navigating the outside world's assumptions about queer families, this episode explores what changes—and what stays...

In Part 2 of the conversation with donor conception expert, author, therapist, and podcaster Lisa Schuman, Jaimie flips the roles and asks the questions, diving deep into donor conception, queer family building, and the emotional realities of parenting in donor-conceived families. Drawing from decades of experience in reproductive medicine, Lisa shares what research reveals about communication ope...

Jaimie sits down with therapist, author, podcaster, and donor conception expert Lisa Schuman. Lisa turns the mic on Jaimie as they explore the origins of The Queer Family Podcast, the emotional realities of donor conception, the fears many queer parents carry around biological connection, and why queer families are some of the most intentional families out there. They also discuss humor, resilienc...

Jaimie and special co-host José Rolón (@nycgaydad) sit down with married couple Jake and Hannah Graf — authors, advocates, and parents of two — to talk about love, transition, intentional family building, and the beautiful chaos of parenting. Jake shares why he chose to pause testosterone and create embryos years before meeting Hannah, while Hannah opens up about transitioning while serving in the...

Vanessa and Jory of @modernfamilynextdoor  join the Pride Extravaganza to share their journey from closeted college classmates to raising three children together. They open up about religious shame, coming out to family, known donor conception, reciprocal IVF, difficult pregnancies, and the emotional realities of non-bio parenting in queer families. This conversation is funny, vulnerable, and deep...

Chase and Oliver share their journey to becoming parents as two trans dads navigating IVF, pregnancy, identity, and queer family building. The couple opens up about meeting as lesbians before both later coming out as trans, deciding who would carry, stopping testosterone to conceive, navigating failed IUIs, finding the right donor, and ultimately becoming pregnant through IVF. They also discuss tr...

Episode Summary (Podcast Apps) Dianni is spiraling a little… because she and her girlfriend are talking about moving in together. 😅 In this Tea Time episode, Jaimie and Dianni get real about lesbian U-Hauling, commitment anxiety, ADHD messiness, relationship fears, and what actually happens when your life starts getting more serious. From clutter fights and “where does this belong?” energy to dee...