Many Americans can’t imagine sitting through six hours of panel discussions, followed by another three hours the next day, and hanging on every word the whole time.

Question-and-answer sessions were never long enough as the intended parents were eager for more. The energy was electric, non-stop information and conversation flowing out of the meeting rooms and into the halls. The rooms were overflowing with attendees like I’d never seen, 300-plus in the course of the weekend. I had been to many MHB conferences across North America and Europe. The group has helped build hundreds of families around the world. Men Having Babies is an organization whose goal is to provide resources to gay, bi and queer men for family-building through surrogacy. I was one of the featured speakers at the Men Having Babies conference in Taipei last month. Yet it was on a recent trip through China and Taiwan that I saw the future for gay families in those countries and across Asia. LGBTQ family-building is in its infancy in China, and it has the potential to create long-lasting cultural change.įor years I’ve been helping people in China, including many gay men, have children through surrogacy. You can view it in its original form here. This article was originally published on The Advocate.