The Queer Family Podcast – LGBTQ Families & Queer Parenting Stories

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...

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...

Episode Summary (Podcast Apps) Welcome to Tea Time with Jaimie & Dianni — a brand new bonus series from The Queer Family Podcast. For the next two weeks leading up to the Pride Extravaganza, we’re giving listeners a free taste of the Patreon-exclusive chaos before these episodes disappear behind the paywall on June 1st. In this first episode, Jaimie gives us a brutally honest recap of the rece...

What happens when a kid from a queer family chooses to stand up and defend his family in front of lawmakers? Zach Wahls—author, advocate, and Iowa State Senator—first made national headlines as a teenager when he spoke out in support of his two moms during a marriage equality hearing. The moment went viral and helped shift the conversation around LGBTQ+ families. But this conversation goes far bey...

Kaya Colin—therapist, couples coach, and parent of two—shares a deeply layered journey through identity, belonging, and queer family building. From an unexpected first pregnancy that challenged how others saw their queerness, to navigating single parenthood, to falling in love with their transmasculine partner and building their second child through reciprocal IVF—this story is complex, resilient,...

What happens when the path you thought you were on… just doesn’t work out? This week, we’re talking to Phil and Jonathan—two dads who spent three years in the adoption process before realizing it might not be how they’d build their family. We get into everything: the waiting, the emotional toll, the near misses, and what it’s like navigating a system that isn’t exactly built for queer families. An...

Dianni Hall—queer Latina, former full-time traveler, and Jaimie’s new assistant producer on The Queer Family Podcast(!) —joins us for a conversation that starts with queer family life and dating… and turns into a very real discussion about queer parenting, LGBTQ+ families, and whether or not to have kids at all. We talk about LGBTQ parenting, intentional relationships, and what it means to build a...

Robin Maril—law professor, former Human Rights Campaign attorney, and host of A Queer Guide to Saving Democracy —joins us for a conversation that starts with queer family life and IVF… and expands into what’s happening in the U.S. right now. We talk about LGBTQ+ families, donor conception, and parenting in the LGBTQ+ community—plus the real LGBTQ+ family challenges that come with raising kids in t...

This week’s episode is a little different—and very real. When a scheduled guest wasn’t ready to share their story, Jaimie and her wife Anne stepped in for an impromptu, unfiltered check-in on their own lives. Recorded in the middle of family chaos (kids awake past bedtime, dog whining, one shared mic…), this episode is exactly what queer family life actually looks like behind the scenes. They open...

Jaimie sits down with fellow podcaster Jameel Mayers, host of Fathernetics , to talk about his journey to fatherhood through the foster-to-adopt system. Jameel shares the emotional realities of fostering, the challenges of navigating agencies as a queer couple, and the moment they met their son, Jacob, who would eventually become their forever child. Together, they explore the complexities of trau...

Jaimie sits down with Daniel Berezowsky to talk about his and his husband’s journey to parenthood through surrogacy — and how their work in human rights shaped every step. They share the emotional and financial realities of IVF, choosing an egg donor, and waiting to be matched with a surrogate, along with the surprising lessons they learned along the way — including letting go of assumptions and e...

What happens when the life you built no longer fits who you are — or the world no longer feels safe for your family? In this episode, Jaimie sits down with TJ Shimeld to talk about coming out after marriage, building an unconventional but beautiful co-parenting relationship with his ex-wife, raising a transgender daughter, and ultimately making the life-changing decision to leave the U.S. for Spai...

What does it really take to build a family through surrogacy as a same sex couple? In this episode, Jaimie sits down with attorney and dad Alexander Paykin to talk about his family’s surrogacy journey, the many unexpected twists along the way, and the legal realities queer parents need to understand before getting started. Alexander shares how he and his husband chose an egg donor, what surprised...

Robert and Shannon are “two regular degular schmegular queers” who went from friends… to dating… to buying sperm in just a few months (yes, it’s as lesbian as it sounds). In this episode, they share what it looked like to build a family as a cisgender woman and a transgender man , including the realities of trans fertility, the complicated emotions around fertility preservation, and the deeply val...

Building a family didn’t happen the way same sex parents Sarah and Beth originally imagined. What began as a straightforward plan unfolded into miscarriage, multiple rounds of IUI, IVF, and ultimately the realization that neither of them could use their own eggs. They share what it meant to pivot again and again — and how they ultimately welcomed their 13-year-old twin boys through both an egg don...

Jaimie sits down with Hilde Festerling —queer mom, children’s writer, and the creator of the all-ages “barnyard gothic” audio drama podcast The Goat American Novel . Hilde shares the story of coming out later in life, navigating an amicable divorce, and building a creative partnership with her girlfriend. The heart of the episode is how Hilde’s family used storytelling as a literal lifeline : writ...