Originally Published on LGBTQ Nation
I always look forward to Father’s Day. But if I’m being honest, it’s complicated.
For me, and I suspect for many other LGBTQ+ parents, the day arrives as a mixed bag of celebration, uncertainty, and quiet questions. My husband and I observe it together with our kids, but one of us usually gets to enjoy it more than the other. Then comes the work of weaving our traditions into the larger fabric of extended family celebrations. And underneath it all, the questions none of us can quite shake: Are we seen? Is our family safe? Are our kids truly happy?
For those still on the journey to parenthood, another question is even more fundamental: Does this day include us at all?
These questions are worth sitting with. Father’s Day looks different across our community, and every version deserves to be honored.
Love & resistance all at once
Father’s Day falls during Pride Month; this year, that feels like a lot
There’s something powerful about Father’s Day landing in June. For LGBTQ+ families, Pride Month has always been about visibility, joy, and the hard-won right to live and love openly. And Father’s Day, at its best, is a celebration of exactly that: the families we’ve built, the kids we’re raising, and the love that makes it all possible.
But this year, Pride feels different for me, and I suspect for many of you, too. The joy is still there (it never fully leaves), but so is the weight. Pride proclamations that were once a given are being pulled. The month itself has been renamed in some places as if our families are something to be erased rather than celebrated. Rights that felt settled are being challenged. Families like ours are being debated in legislatures and courtrooms. Our kids are growing up in a world that is still deciding how much it values their families. And I am doing my best to celebrate while also staying vigilant, staying loud, and staying together with this community.
Holding pride and fear at the same time is something we LGBTQ+ people have always known how to do. But that doesn’t make it easy. And on a day that’s supposed to be about celebration, I think it’s okay to acknowledge that the world is asking a lot of us right now.
So, as I do every Father’s Day, I will do my best to celebrate loudly and unapologetically. Because visibility matters. Because our families are real, valid, and worth fighting for. Because every LGBTQ+ dad raising a child with pride is an act of love and resistance all at once.
For the two-dad family
Maybe you’ve been celebrating Father’s Day for years, and by now you’ve got your own traditions: the handmade cards, the chaotic breakfast in bed, the annual debate over who gets to sleep in. But you also know what it’s like to walk into a card aisle that wasn’t designed for you, or to explain your family to someone who’s never had to think about it. You’ve built something beautiful, and you’ve had to fight a little (or a lot) to have it recognized. Today is yours.
For the single dad
You’re doing it all: the bedtime routines, the school pickups, the moments of doubt at 2 am, and the moments of pure joy that make it all worth it. You may not have anyone handing you a card this morning, but you know that someday your kids will know what you’ve given them. In the meantime, I want to remind you that this day is yours, too.
For the dad who came out after becoming a dad
Your path to fatherhood doesn’t look like the ones being navigated today, but your journey to your authentic self is reminiscent of our own coming-out journeys. You have navigated divorce, co-parenting, and the courage it takes to live authentically, all while showing up every day for your kids. The love you have for them has never wavered, even as everything else changed. That steady, brave kind of fatherhood deserves to be celebrated. Today is yours.
For our trans and nonbinary dads and parents
Fatherhood has never been a one-size-fits-all experience, and for our trans and nonbinary community members, that’s especially true. You may have fought hard to be seen as the parent you are. You may be raising kids who are learning that family comes in every form. You may be navigating a world that is becoming increasingly hostile to your very existence, even as you show up every single day with love and intention for your children.
Your fatherhood, however you define it, is valid, real, and worth celebrating. I see you, I honor you, and I am proud to be part of a community that includes you.
For the dads-to-be
You’re in the thick of it – researching, waiting, hoping, planning. Maybe you’re deep in an adoption process that feels like it will never end. Maybe you’re navigating surrogacy or fertility treatments and trying to stay hopeful when it’s hard. Maybe you’re waiting for a phone call from your adoption agency or regarding a foster placement. Maybe you’re just starting to ask whether this is even possible for you. Father’s Day can feel bittersweet when you’re not there yet. But the love you already have for a family you haven’t yet built? That counts. You count. Today is for you, too.
For the dads whose journeys look different
Maybe you’re a foster dad, loving a child through uncertainty. Maybe you’re a stepdad who showed up when it mattered. Maybe you’re the dad figure in someone’s life who has never called you that out loud but feels it every day. Families don’t always come with tidy labels, and neither does fatherhood. However, you’ve shown up for the kids in your life. I see it.
For the dads who aren’t sure if it’s safe to celebrate
I know this year feels heavier for many of us. Questions about whether our families are protected, whether our rights are secure, whether the world in which our kids are growing up will see them and love them the way we do, weigh heavily. Those questions are real, and they don’t take the day off just because it’s Father’s Day. You’re allowed to hold the joy and the worry at the same time. I’m holding it with you.
For the people who made our families possible
I also want to take a moment to honor the extraordinary people whose generosity, love, and sacrifice made so many of our families real. The surrogates who carried our children and trusted us with something beyond words. The egg donors who gave a part of themselves so we could become parents. The birth families who made the most difficult and loving decision imaginable. You are woven into our families’ stories in ways that can never be fully expressed. I see you today, too.
We see you
GWK Academy exists because I believe every LGBTQ+ person who dreams of building a family deserves to be supported, seen, and celebrated. That belief has never felt more important than it does right now.
Happy Father’s (or Fathers’) Day to every dad, future dad, foster dad, stepdad, and chosen family member who makes this community what it is. You are seen. You are celebrated. And you belong here.
Visit GWK Academy today, and take your first step toward becoming a parent. We’re with you the whole way. And don’t forget to come back to LGBTQ Nation for monthly family-building insights and support from your friends at GWK Academy.
