Investigating stress, community support, and kinship in LGBTQ+ family formation in the US South

<span style="font-weight: 400;">Research on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) community has illustrated that queer individuals experience unique, and sometimes inequitable, experiences within healthcare and legal spaces. Previous research has also established that this extends to disparities with family formation, where LGBTQ+ people are challenged by access to assisted reproductive technologies (ART), legal obstacles, and psychosocial stress. However, less research has investigated how these disparities are contextualized by the geographic, social, and political environment of specific regions of the United States. Using semi-structured interviews with individuals living in North Carolina and Georgia, this research explores how stress and community support influence the family formation processes of LGBTQ+ individuals in the U.S. South over the past two decades. Participant interviews focus on three key groups: queer people currently planning a family, queer parents, and practitioners who are involved in queer family planning. Results shed light on the challenges that LGBTQ+ individuals face when forming a family, including emotional stress, biological limitations, legal barriers, and social discrimination. Despite this, participants expressed that community support can mitigate some of the stress created by these obstacles. These results also suggest an increased need for cultural competency training in healthcare, more equitable insurance coverage for fertility care, and inclusive family laws.</span>