Life in an LGBTIQ+ family: a personal story

Helen and Bernadette have 2 children – Madeleine, aged 6 years, and Dominic, aged 4 years. They live in a regional town in New South Wales. The children’s donor father, Craig, lives in Sydney.*

Helen
‘We were in a relationship for several years and we both decided we wanted to have children.

‘We weren’t that fussed about who had the children. It just so happened that I was considerably older and we felt that Bernadette’s family had to be eased into the situation. We’ve had 2 children, 1 each, to the same sperm donor. But we don’t make biological distinctions – they’re both our kids and we’re both their mummies. They know whose tummy they came out of, and that Craig is their donor dad and they have an older sister, but other than that, in their family they have 2 mummies.

‘Once the babies came along, it changed things with our families considerably. Grandparents want interaction with their grandchildren and our relationships were then greatly improved with Bernadette’s family. Her family are strict Catholics. It took a long time for them to warm to our relationship, but the kids really helped. My family still experiences a level of fear. They still have a fair way to go, but they’re doing their best. After all, there are so many diverse family structures nowadays – ours is just one.

‘The children have contact with their dad – he’s in Sydney with his other daughter. In the future we might move back to Sydney or they might want to spend more time with their extended family. The situation is open and we’re just going to leave it up to them when they’re older.

‘The other thing is the way people view same-sex families. We live in a small country town – homophobia is the same everywhere, and people find difference a challenge. But we do an enormous amount for the schools and we’re very involved in the community. I think this is helpful for the community. They know we’re a 2-mummy family and the children are very open about that.

‘People soon realise we’re just a pretty average family – what makes us special isn’t our family structure, but just us!’

*Not their real names