The last several decades have seen a significant increase in the number of LGBTQ people choosing parenthood. This increase has been influenced by the increased availability of reproductive technologies, including donor insemination (DI), in vitro fertilization (IVF), and gamete freezing; increased access to adoption and surrogacy; and legal challenges and reforms, changes in social attitudes, and ongoing LGBTQ activism.

This entry explores the experiences of LGBTQ people throughout the transition to parenthood. LGBTQ-prospective parents typically face a set of complex decisions in determining their path to parenthood. These can include decisions regarding pregnancy, adoption, coparenting (a parenting situation where the parents are not in a romantic or sexual relationship with one another), or surrogacy; the selection of anonymous or known egg or sperm donors; who in ...