Challenging preconceptions of lesbian parenting

Lisa Saffron is a true lesbian parenting pioneer. She is a lesbian mother and the author of a number of groundbreaking books on self-insemination. The most widely known of these books is Challenging Conceptions: Planning a family by self-insemination (Cassell, 1994). Her first book on the subject was Getting pregnant our own way: A guide to alternative insemination produced for the Women’s Health Information Centre in London in 1987. It’s a Family Affair: The complete lesbian parenting book (Diva Books, 2001) is her latest volume. Lisa has also addressed the experiences of children with lesbian and gay parents in What About the Children? Sons and daughters of lesbian and gay parents talk about their lives (Cassell, 1996). Lisa was the founder and first executive director of PinkParents (established as a charity in June 2000, charitable status given up in June 2005), an organisation that offers support and guidance to lesbian, gay and bisexual parents and educates and informes both lesbian, gay and bisexual parents and the wider community (see www.pinkparents.org.uk). Lisa still provides workshops and individual consultations for lesbians and gay men wanting to become parents and workshops for service providers. She has also emerged relatively unscathed from numerous encounters with the media over the last two decades! I spoke to Lisa at her home and transcribed and edited our two-hour conversation. Lisa has read and commented on the transcript. To begin with I asked Lisa about how she first got involved in supporting and raising awareness of lesbian parenting.