Location: Virtual on Zoom

This session offers a straightforward, research-informed overview of family building for 2SLGBTQ+ people, based on Laine Halpern Zisman’s book Conceivable. The talk outlines the current landscape of fertility care, donor conception, surrogacy, and assisted reproduction, with a focus on the social, political, and medical factors that shape access for queer and trans communities.

Session Highlights:

• Overview of pathways to parenthood for 2SLGBTQ+ individuals and couples, including donor insemination, IVF, reciprocal IVF, surrogacy, and co-parenting.
• Understanding the fertility system: how clinics operate, what to expect at appointments, navigating protocols, and how inequities affect queer and trans patients.
• Decision-making tools: frameworks for choosing a path, selecting donors or surrogates, considering legal questions, and budgeting.
• Evidence-based context: what current research tells us about outcomes, barriers, and gaps in care.
• Advocacy inside the system: how to ask better questions, assess a clinic or provider, and push for inclusive and competent care.

This book talk is for:

People at any point in the family-building process — planning, exploring options, actively pursuing treatment — as well as service providers or community workers seeking a clearer understanding of 2SLGBTQ+ reproductive pathways.

Speaker Bio:

Laine Halpern Zisman, PhD, is an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health and Social Policy at the University of Victoria and a sessional lecturer at the University of Toronto. She serves as the Director of Training and Education at Birth Mark, where she develops and oversees LGBTQ+ programming and provides training focused on reproductive justice, inclusive care, and 2SLGBTQ+ family-building pathways.

Laine is also a certified fertility-support practitioner, working directly with individuals and couples navigating donor conception, IVF, surrogacy, and related processes.

She is the author of Conceivable: A Guide to Making 2SLGBTQ+ Family, which offers a grounded, accessible overview of the medical, social, and political factors shaping queer and trans access to fertility care in Canada. Her academic and community-based work spans reproductive health equity, gender and media studies, and LGBTQ+ family formation.

RSVP Preferred via The519.org/hjprog

Questions? Email: Legalclinic@The519.org