DADsquared℠

devastation Some of you have followed our adoption journey. You watched or read from the shadows as our little family of three grew to become four. A little back story for our new friends. My husband and I adopted our Ben at birth. We were living in South Florida at the time. He came into this world in October of 2011, almost exactly two years after we were married in Boston, MA. I honestly can't look back on my life and remember a more happy time, perhaps our wedding day but that's a close call. There are definitely pressures and fears that creep into most all adoption stories, especially when your a same gender couple, the year is 2010, the birth-mother has troubles and the nation had yet to legally recognize our family. But all of those scary thoughts and memories drifted away with each of his beautiful smiles and laughs. They took flight at each and every amazing milestone. They never stood a chance with each year that we celebrated anoth...

By Dara Fisher Recently I had a conversation with a friend from high school that caused the wheels in my head to start turning.   He is gay, though we’ve been friends since before he came to that realization.   He jokingly called me a “fag hag” and I was taken aback.   I’ve had several people call me that name before but they were folks that didn’t know me personally or at least well enough to know that my existence in the gay community is one I was born into, not chosen as a social situation.   This friend however is very familiar with my family and knows my gay parents.   When I protested his label by saying that I’m not a fag hag but rather a member of the gay community, he informed me in no uncertain terms that I was not actually part of the gay community because I am not a lesbian myself.   We had a few little exchanges and ultimately, we left at the agree to disagree point because he wasn’t willing to listen to my poin...

So I would never use the word intelligent to describe myself. I am far from a thinker or an over analytical man. I am much simpler than that, more basic, I’m a feeler. I trust my gut and my instincts and I make every attempt to move away from what what I perceive as pain and move towards what my spirit senses as pleasure. The pain/pleasure principle. I also believe in making as many decisions as I can sourced from inspiration rather than desperation. That little concept, I believe, can change lives. Read full article  HERE

Feb 5 th , 2015.  We waited 8 years for this day.  When people ask me about my boy, I always say it’s a very complicated story.  Really, its not that complicated, but I don’t want to tell it in a way that makes anyone involved look as if they made mistakes or that somehow our boy was deprived in any way.  It all started 8 years ago when my sister realized she was pregnant.  She had always told me that she didn’t want kids, she just wanted dogs.  I am 18 years older than her so I have known her for her whole life. We talked about her options.  She was dating the child’s birth father and they really wanted to make it work between them, but it just didn’t.  Relationships are tricky.  Adding a baby to the mix at an early stage can really scare a new couple even thought these two knew each other from high school.  My sister had mentioned to me that T and I would be great dads.  I was somewhat shocked.  T and...

I recently read a comment about a truly important world event, the wedding of Lance Bass to now husband Michael Turchin. Okay, so world news might be a bit of an overstatement but the comment was extremely interesting and got me thinking. The commentator basically stated, and I paraphrase, that he found the fact that E News was going to be airing a show called “Lance Loves Michael: The Lance Bass Wedding” not merely nauseating but he also referred to the happy couple as “Assimilation Gays,” a term that I have seen popping up all to often. Read the full article  HERE

Family Equality Council's Executive Director Gabriel Blau to write the forward for our upcoming book "Dads Behaving Dadly: Truths Tears and Triumphs of Gay Dads."  Gabriel, was recently named one of The Advocate magazine's 40 under 40, a Dad Fighting for All Dads.   His tireless efforts as a representative for all LGBTQ families and our children makes him the perfect activist, warrior and gay dad for the job. We thank Gabriel for all he does and continues to do and are so proud to have him join this project. Be a part of history, be a part of the book. For submission information go to  dadsquared.org Gabriel Blau, 34 New York, D.C., Boston During the big Family Equality Council events, executive director Gabriel Blau and his family often end up in photographs projected on giant screens. He and his husband and son are just one of the many families Blau is fighting for in his everyday work. But that enormous photo on display i...

Henry Amador-Batten is proud to announce that he will be co-authoring an exciting new book that will shine a light on gay dads like never before. Award winning author Hogan Hilling, who to date has published six books on fathers and parenthood invited Henry Amador-Batten to join him on the third "Dads Behaving Dadly" book. " Dads Behaving Dadly: Truths Tears and Triumphs Of Gay Dads " will feature gays dads, worldwide, as they share their beautiful and unique stories of fatherhood. "With more and more gay men joining the ranks of fatherhood, there has never been a better time to share these dads, these families and these stories with the world. It has become my honor and my obligation to become a storyteller for these dads, It is my sincere wish that this book will build bridges, touch hearts and help to solidify our place within the global parenting community."  Henry Amador-Batten Amador-Batten and Hillings invite all gay dads to share the...

By Henry Amador Tired, irritated, angry, distant, envious, tired, overwhelmed, tired, judgmental, did I say tired? These are some of the ways I have been feeling lately and that really has me feeling, well... tired, irritated, angry, distant, envious, overwhelmed, judgmental and tired, really tired. I was recently featured in an article on  Buzzfeed  about how dads balance work and family. I apparently wrote my contribution under the influence of an alter ego or perhaps a nice Riesling or through a pair of rose colored glasses or a sunny day in Winter, I'm not quite certain, but it made me feel like a fraud. Read full article  HERE

1. When are you going to tell him he's adopted and do you think he will take the news well? We're not, we are planning on waiting until he is either eighteen or just senses that he's different to SURPRISE him with the news. Adoption is not a bad word, we have used the term since he was born. Firstly we are two men, as soon as the birds and the bees fly into our home he might start to get an inkling but by the time that rolls around he will be very comfortable with the idea of how our family was created. Read the full article  HERE

Dear little man, It will soon be 2015, and although your little mind can not understand this yet, we are on the edge of some exciting and momentous of things. read the full article  HERE

As the new year approaches we often find ourselves feeling a tad overwhelmed, frustrated and oh so weary. It’s as if we are looking at life, at ourselves and all the people we encounter with those horrible magnifying makeup mirrors.  Every flaw, every nuance is exaggerated and every feeling seems designed to personally attack and put us on the automatic defense. We want things to be perfect.  We need things to be perfect and quite frankly we are setting ourselves up for disaster. I learned a long time ago that are some simple, yet powerful actions I could put into place to avoid heartache, disaster and allowing the Grinches in. Here are three. Read the full article  HERE

I just had the pleasure of reading  The Christmas Truck  to my three year old son, He sat enthralled and excited through each and every page. "That little boy has a Daddy and Papa just like me!' he exclaimed and there is no greater joy for me than when my boy sees his family represented, especially in such a loving and special way. The story takes us along with a cool same-gender family as they embrace the true spirit of Christmas, The spirit of giving. We tag along as they prepare their home and their hearts for the holidays. They teach their son about giving to others less fortunate than he and about overcoming obstacles. With the love of his family and the quick thinking of his awesome grandma nothing gets in the way of making a special Christmas wish come true. The Christmas Truck , lovingly written by J.B. Blankenship and beautifully illustrated by Cassandre Bolan  has already become one of our holiday traditions and I hope ...

One of the most amazing gifts I get from working with DADsquared is the building of relationships. I read and share stories daily from families all over the country. We hear of their struggles, their triumphs, the stumbling blocks on the road to parenthood and some of the tools that led to success. One voice I do not share often enough is that of the surrogate. Many of us have have become parents with their help. Some of us maintain these special relationships in so many different ways. They may be our child's special "aunt" or a close family friend. Some of our children know them truthfully as their birth-mothers and yet others may never know them at all. Regardless of what place they may hold in our hearts they are undeniably magical, special and for many.. mysterious women. I often hear.. "how could a woman do that?" "I could never carry a baby and then give it up." I will say that I have learned that for some surrogates it is a ca...