Posted on Jun 19, 2022
Three single, gay dads reflect on fatherhood, surrogacy journeys
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https://www.npr.org/2022/06/19/ [login to see] /three-single-gay-dads-reflect-on-fatherhood-surrogacy-journeys
Fatherhood comes in many different forms, from the dads who are there from your first steps, to the ones you meet later in life.
NPR spoke to three men, single gay fathers, who chose to become dads via surrogacy, after years of coming to terms with their identities, their families, and the technological advances that have made journeys like this possible.
CENK BULBUL
Cenk Bulbul is originally from Turkey. He came to the United States in 1994 – the early days of a tool that would help him, and countless others, understand the emotions for which they didn't yet have the words: the World Wide Web.
"The things that I was feeling as a young man, but I didn't know what they were because there weren't any public examples where I used to live in Turkey and even at Carnegie Mellon [University]," Bulbul says of his time exploring the internet while getting his masters degree in Pennsylvania.
"At that point in 1994, you didn't see many gays [on] the campus. So I realized I was gay, but I was like scared, confused."
Fatherhood comes in many different forms, from the dads who are there from your first steps, to the ones you meet later in life.
NPR spoke to three men, single gay fathers, who chose to become dads via surrogacy, after years of coming to terms with their identities, their families, and the technological advances that have made journeys like this possible.
CENK BULBUL
Cenk Bulbul is originally from Turkey. He came to the United States in 1994 – the early days of a tool that would help him, and countless others, understand the emotions for which they didn't yet have the words: the World Wide Web.
"The things that I was feeling as a young man, but I didn't know what they were because there weren't any public examples where I used to live in Turkey and even at Carnegie Mellon [University]," Bulbul says of his time exploring the internet while getting his masters degree in Pennsylvania.
"At that point in 1994, you didn't see many gays [on] the campus. So I realized I was gay, but I was like scared, confused."
Three single, gay dads reflect on fatherhood, surrogacy journeys
Posted from npr.org
Family
Holidays
Parenting
LGBTQ+
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
...""The parents that you're kind of taking care of, as well, because they're intimately involved with my son's life," he says. "You're concerned about your elders, the elders in the family, given that they're in their seventies. And you're concerned about Spencer, who, you know, doesn't have the vaccine."
But in their time together, exacerbated by the isolation of the pandemic, Ling says he and Spencer have spent time learning one another.
"He's got an amazing will to him," Ling says.
It's a determination the two have in common. Despite the challenges of life as a single gay dad in New York, Ling remains an optimist.
He said he is still hopeful to find romantic love, and plans to begin a new surrogacy journey in a few months."
...""The parents that you're kind of taking care of, as well, because they're intimately involved with my son's life," he says. "You're concerned about your elders, the elders in the family, given that they're in their seventies. And you're concerned about Spencer, who, you know, doesn't have the vaccine."
But in their time together, exacerbated by the isolation of the pandemic, Ling says he and Spencer have spent time learning one another.
"He's got an amazing will to him," Ling says.
It's a determination the two have in common. Despite the challenges of life as a single gay dad in New York, Ling remains an optimist.
He said he is still hopeful to find romantic love, and plans to begin a new surrogacy journey in a few months."
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