@article{Malmquist_Spånberg Ekholm_2020, title={Swedish Gay Men’s Pursuit of Fatherhood: Legal Obstacles and Strategies for Coping With Them}, volume={24}, url={http://lambdanordica.org/index.php/lambdanordica/article/view/580}, DOI={10.34041/ln.v24.580}, abstractNote={<p>The aim of the present work is to explore how gay fathers have experienced legal obstacles&nbsp;throughout their process of becoming fathers, and what strategies they have&nbsp;used to cope with the difficulties they have met. The study used semi-structured&nbsp;interviews to capture the fathers’ experiences, and a constructivist grounded theory&nbsp;to analyse the data. Interviews with thirty gay fathers in Sweden were included&nbsp;in the study. The participants had become fathers through surrogacy, shared parenthood&nbsp;with women, or foster care. Legal obstacles had played a prominent role&nbsp;in all three family forms, as well as in adoption – which some participants had&nbsp;unsuccessfully pursued. Obstacles marked both their pursuit of fatherhood and&nbsp;their establishment of legal custody. Some participants had eventually given up&nbsp;their initially preferred path to parenthood and searched for another route. To&nbsp;overcome legal obstacles, the participants had utilised one or more strategies; such&nbsp;as being persistent and well prepared, pretending to be straight, and finding access&nbsp;to assisted reproduction treatment abroad. Regardless of the path to parenthood,&nbsp;the participants stressed the necessity of possessing adequate personal or economic&nbsp;resources to become parents.</p&gt;}, number={2-3}, journal={lambda nordica}, author={Malmquist, Anna and Spånberg Ekholm, Alexander}, year={2020}, month={Feb.}, pages={53-80} }