While most donors recruited by sperm banks are anonymous and legally relinquish parental rights and responsibilities, a few sperm banks allow children, with the consent of the donor, to initiate contact with their genetic father at a specified age.

Sponsor Message.

When the sperm donor is known--as in cases where individuals such as a gay man and a lesbian (or a gay male couple and a lesbian couple)--decide to co-parent a child, it is very important that all parties be clear as to the legal obligations and consequences of the co-parenting arrangement. Since alternative families are not acknowledged in most jurisdictions, co-parenting may carry with it considerable legal risks.

Other issues involved in artificial insemination include health considerations, such as access to the donor's medical history and genetic heritage, and the emotional impact on the children of artificial insemination of not knowing their fathers or growing up in non-traditional families.

Over three decades of research has repeatedly shown that children of glbtq parents are no different from their peers reared in heterosexual families; recently queerspawn themselves have added their own voices to the discourse.

While the courts of some states have been almost unremittingly hostile to gay men and lesbians involved in custody litigation, others have declared that glbtq parents have the same rights and responsibilities as other parents.

Many glbtq people reject a fixed definition of family imposed by society, and instead claim the right to define their own families as they choose.

Even though glbtq people have been parents throughout history, recent political movements and advances in fertility technology have given rise to a much more visible and self-identified gay and lesbian parents.